As most of you know, Joni Eareckson Tada was paralyzed after a diving accident in her teenage years. Looking back, Joni writes:
“I remembered the long-ago night when, as a frightened seventeen-year-old, I lay face-up in a shadowy hospital room wondering if God had abandoned me. The hallways were dark and visiting hours over. And then my friend Jacque climbed into bed next to me. She’d instinctively known the only thing that would bring comfort, and in the midst of that dark night, she sang:
‘Man of Sorrows!’ What a name!
For the Son of God who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim!
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
“Over the past three decades, whenever anyone asked me, ‘When was the turning point?’ I described that moment. It was the best thing anyone could have done for a paralyzed girl. Lying for long hours in bed, I had recited verses about God’s purposed in suffering, but their truths never reached the core of my anguish. Answers and reasons, good though they are, weren’t reaching the problem where in heart—in my gut and heart…
“I didn’t grasp it at first, but if God is truly the one at the center of the universe, holding it together so it doesn’t split apart at the seams—if everything moves, breathes, and has its being in him, as it says of God in Acts 17:28—he can give us no greater answer or reason or gift than himself. That’s what Jacque helped me to grasp that night. God didn’t give words, he gave the Word—Jesus, the bruised and bloody Man of Sorrows.”
from The God I Love, p. 304
As I enter the year 2010, I come with the Man of Sorrows at my side. He knows my heartache and sympathizes with my weakness. Not only does He understand my need, but He resolves it. For He is the Son of God! He came to reclaim the ruined sinners! He takes my pain upon Himself. He finishes the fight for me. He forgives my rebellious heart and He wraps me up in His arms. Here I am safe.
I enter 2010, not in my own strength but with His, “soaring on eagle’s wings” (Isaiah 40:31). Hallelujah, what a Savior!
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