God’s Grace in Disaster
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with great words from a good friend.
As we all come up and out of this season of coronavirus, I’m sure we could each point to a devotional or a sermon or special passage from God’s Word which has bolstered our heart. And for me, it’s been Genesis 50:20 – what was intended for evil, God intended for good. And my friend Paul David Tripp has a few things to say about that, and I’ve just got to share his words with you today. I think it’ll strengthen your heart as we move forward through coronavirus. Because this is what he writes. Think about this. He says, “At the center of biblical worldview is [the] radical recognition [that often], the most horrible thing that ever happened ends up being the most wonderful thing that ever happened.”
Consider the cross of Jesus Christ. “Could it be possible for something to happen that was more terrible than this?…The only man who ever lived a life that was perfect in every way possible…[would be] cruelly and publicly murdered in the most vicious of ways?…Was this not the end of everything good [and] true and beautiful? If this could happen, is there any hope for the world?”
Well, Paul David Tripp goes on to answer that; he says, “… the answer is yes – there is hope!” The cross was not the end of the story. “In God’s righteous and wise plan, this dark and disastrous moment was ordained to be the moment that would fix all the dark and disastrous things that sin ha[s] done to the world. This moment of death was at the same time a moment of life. This hopeless moment was the moment when eternal hope was given. This terrible moment of injustice was at the very same time a moment of amazing grace. This moment of extreme suffering guaranteed that suffering would one day, once and for all, [be ended]. This moment of sadness welcomed us to eternal joy of heart and life. The capture and death of Christ…purchased for us life and freedom. The very worst thing that could happen was at the same time the very best thing that could happen, and only God is able to do such a thing.
“The same God who planned that the worst thing would be the best thing is your Father. He rules over every moment in your life, and in powerful grace He is able to do for you just what He did in redemptive history. [He] takes the disasters in your life and makes them tools of redemption. He takes your failure and employs it as a tool of grace. He uses the ‘death’ of the fallen world to motivate you to reach out for life. The hardest things in your life can become the sweetest tools of grace in His wise and loving hands.”
Oh, wow! Oh, friend, those are such rich, good words from Paul David Tripp. And so I would tell you, be careful how you make sense of your life during this coronavirus. Because what looks like a disaster may be in fact, God’s grace to you. What looks like the end – especially if you have lost your livelihood – it may well be the beginning. Because your Father is committed to taking what seems so bad in your life right now and turning it into something that’s very good. Do you need help believing that? Well, please, let us pray for you at joniandfriends.org. Just go to our “Help and Inspiration” tab and get help right away. Tell us your prayer need and let us help bring down God’s grace to you. For if coronavirus has closed something precious for you, this could be God’s way of opening something in your life that’s brand new and much more exciting.
