When we’re pushed aside by an illness, accident or circumstance, we’re apt to whine, Why me, why now, why this? We identify with the losses of the Old Testament’s Job. Like Job, we have no easy answer to the why’s of suffering, except that God is sovereign in what happens “down here.”
Yes, it can get rough. I have a friend who was diagnosed a year ago with a cancer that she has fought with determination and grit. In a recent note I wrote her, this phrase came to mind: “Infirmities are a platform through which God displays Himself.” I had just read in John 9 about Jesus healing the blind man. Jesus dismissed the speculation that he was blind because of his or his parents’ sin. Instead, Jesus said, this happened “so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3).
Few of us want to be a display board for God. Quadriplegic author/artist Joni Eareckson Tada isn’t all that fond of her wheelchair. My creative, compassionate friend Shirley, whose life was ended by cancer, similarly spent most of her life on “wheels” after breaking her neck. But I looked to her (as I do the writings of Joni) for encouragement to trust God in the rough places.
I’ve been reading biographies of Scotsman Eric Liddell in preparation for a writing assignment. Liddell took a gold medal in the 1924 Olympics for the 400-meter race after refusing to run his best event, the 100-meter, because it took place on a Sunday. His talent and convictions were brought to movie fame in Chariots of Fire.
Instead of becoming a professional sports person, Liddell set a course to become a missionary to China. Sally Magnusson’s biography, The Flying Scotsman, recounts how the newly-ordained Liddell was asked by a friend to sign a guest book. With a laugh, Liddell signed his new “Reverend” title and then added some Chinese characters. Asked what those meant, he explained, “Keep smiling.” He often used that phrase.
The friend told Liddell of a woman who often used the same phrase. Her name was Bella, and five years earlier she was scalped in an accident, losing one eye and badly damaging the other. She endured painful skin grafts, unbearable headaches, and was nearly deaf and blind. Every month the painful, ingrown eyelashes of her remaining eye had to be pulled out. Yet, according to the friend, the woman remained cheerful, telling people to “keep smiling.”
When he told Liddell that the woman greatly admired him, Liddell asked if he could visit her. The friend arranged it, and Liddell and Bella had an hour together. As she held his hand, she remarked that she worked for God, too. Her sufferings weren’t as bad as some face, she said, but when people complained over little things, she was able to remind them of how blessed they really were.
The next morning, as Liddell hurried to board a train, someone handed him a letter from Bella. He pushed it in his pocket to read later. The letter simply expressed how happy his visit made her.
The man sharing his train compartment was obviously miserable, holding his head in his hands and refusing to look up. Liddell tried to cheer him, and eventually the man started telling his story. He complained he felt like a failure. He did poorly at school, couldn’t keep a job, had conflicts with his parents, and had no friends. Feeling life wasn’t worth living, he was going to kill himself.
Wondering how to respond, Liddell remembered Bella’s letter in his pocket and asked the young man to read it. Liddell explained the woman’s severe handicaps and added that she took care of four people.
Ashamed of his attitude, the young man brightened, realizing he was wrong to lose faith in God and himself. He left the train a different man.
The story prompted me to ask what slogan I’m unconsciously signing after my name. How about you? :)
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