When 17-year-old Joni Eareckson was invited to go swimming one hot afternoon, she said, “Sure!”
What if someone had said, “But Joni, if you go swimming you will break your neck from diving in, be paralyzed from the shoulders down, go through terrible suffering and depression, and spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair. You’ll get married, but you’ll never be able to have a family. Yet, Joni, you will have a worldwide ministry for disabled people and an opportunity to share Jesus with millions of others because of your disability and suffering.” Would she have gone swimming?
Surprisingly, with hindsight, Joni now says that she wouldn’t be the person she is today if she’d not been paralyzed. “God has shown me some deep things about His purpose and Himself that for me are so satisfying, so pleasurable, that I wouldn’t trade the wheelchair for anything!”¹
But she didn’t see it that way at the beginning. She couldn’t understand why God would allow her to suffer when it was in His power to prevent it, until she met a young Christian called Steve.
Steve took his Bible and asked Joni, “Whose will do you think the Cross was?” Joni answered that it was God’s will, of course. She’d been told from childhood that God sent Jesus to die for our sins and rescue us from destruction. But Steve pointed out that it was the devil who inspired Judas to betray Jesus, the devil who incited the mob to demand His death, and the devil who was behind the mock justice and the cruel treatment He received. “How can any of these things be God’s will?” he asked. “Treason, injustice, murder, torture?” Yet the Bible shows that God was in control throughout Jesus’ ordeal according to Acts 4:26-28.
Steve pointed out that Jesus’ death shows us God and Satan participating in the same event for different reasons. “God always aborts devilish schemes in order to accomplish His own ends and His own purposes. That’s what He did at the Cross. The world’s worst murder became the world’s only salvation.”²
Contemplating this “big picture” gave Joni a new perspective on suffering and tragedy which helped her to keep her faith in God. It can help us too. Let’s see what the Bible can tell us about coping with hard times and about what’s really happening behind the scenes.
1. This world is no longer “very good” (Genesis 1:31) as God created it to be. What went wrong?
Revelation 12:7, 9, 12 And war broke out in heaven…. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him…. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.
Sin and rebellion began in heaven in the heart of an ambitious, scheming angel leader who became known as the devil. Through his efforts to deceive, they infected the earth—both people and nature.
2. God made perfect, sinless human beings in His image of unselfish, compassionate love. What went wrong with us?
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.
Not long after Creation, the first humans chose to disobey God under the devil’s temptations. Sin is choosing to focus on ourselves and what we want. This leads us to break God’s law of love, which focuses on serving God and others. Ultimately, sin leads to suffering since it brings us under the devil’s hate-filled influence.
3. Our world is now full of misery because of sin. How does Jesus describe the world’s condition in its last days?
Matthew 24:7, 10, 12 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places…. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another…. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
Between this and our own mistakes and bad choices, it’s no wonder that life is very hard for Earth’s inhabitants. Innocent people may suffer because of the general state of our world now. God is not to blame for it. But there are some other questions to answer.
1. Why did God let Satan and the first humans sin, and why didn’t He just overrule and put things right again? Pick out the word found in both these Bible verses that answers these questions.
Proverbs 3:31 Do not envy the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
Proverbs 12:26 The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Having free choice is what makes us moral beings in God’s image. Love is a choice! God has given us the possibility of choosing to love and obey Him or choosing not to. He will never force us to choose Him, and He will not overrule our choices, either.
2. Is God a tyrant waiting to punish us for our sins by causing us trouble and suffering? Who is really behind much of the hardship in this world?
Luke 13:16 “So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
The woman in the first verse was bent over and could not straighten up because of “an infirmity.” Jesus healed her on the Sabbath day and was grieved that the religious leaders saw that as a sin. The devil is the one seeking to harm us, not God. Our sins may have painful consequences, but God gave His Son to take the punishment for them.
3. To counter Satan’s lies about Him, God wants to reveal His true nature of love to us. How does He use our hard times to do that?
Isaiah 53:4–5 [Speaking of Jesus] Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 63:9 [Speaking of the Hebrews, but applying to us too] In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old.
During His life and death, Jesus bore more suffering than we ever will. He understands from experience what we’re going through when hard times strike us. The Father suffered too. He felt everything Jesus felt and endured the suffering of giving His Son to take the punishment for our sins. The Father and Son also carry us through our personal trials and suffering—sometimes by sending others to help us. We are never alone in our struggles.
4. Apart from revealing God’s love to us, how can hard times benefit us personally?
Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
The “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22–23) is the fruit of righteousness. It includes love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patient endurance), gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, and self-control. Often, we learn these things more deeply in hard times, and later we realize how the trials benefited us.
1. Prayer is a comfort and a necessity when we’re struggling. Here are some of God’s promises to claim:
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
2. What else can we do in prayer that helps us through our difficulties?
1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
No matter how bad things are, there’s always something we can thank God for. Doing this reminds us of His love and lifts our spirits. Some people even thank God for the trial itself because of the good God can bring out of it.
3. Jesus ministered to others while He Himself was enduring trials. How can we do the same?
2 Corinthians 1:3–4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
It’s a double blessing to share comfort with others when we’re in hard times. It passes on the help we’ve received from God, and it takes our minds off our situation and onto the needs of others. Joni found this too.
4. Will suffering ever end?
Revelation 21:1, 4 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth.... And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
It’s very comforting to remember that one day, it will all be over!
While the devil tries to use hard times to discourage and break us, God can turn them into blessings if we face them with Him. He uses suffering as an opportunity to reveal more of His love to us, then through us to others.
I choose to trust God to turn my trials into blessings.
All verses quoted are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible.
Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith (movie), YouTube.
The information and quotes about Joni and Steve came from a website that no longer exists. Joni’s story can be found in her autobiography, Joni: An Unforgettable Story, and on her website, Joniandfriends.com.
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