Comforted by Bible Promises

Dannah Gresh: Quadriplegic Joni Eareckson Tada was experiencing intense pain, and she needed assistance.

Joni Eareckson Tada: And that’s when, in the dark, I drew a deep breath and I screamed, “Help! Help me!” and the house was silent. Now my heart was racing, because I was in terrible trouble.

Dannah: We’ll find out what happened, today on the Revive Our Hearts podcast. It’s January 16, 2023. I’m Dannah Gresh, and our host is the author of Heaven Rules, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth:  Over and over, day after day, in a variety of ways here at Revive Our Hearts, we are always encouraging you to get into God’s Word and allow God’s Word to get into you. Well, why do we put such an emphasis on that? There are a lot of reasons. As W soak your mind in the Scriptures, we are going to get to know God better. And what more important thing in all of our lives than knowing God? As we soak in Scripture, we'll see ourselves as we really are. And also, we are going to be helped to see our circumstances with more of an eternal perspective.

You've often heard me quote the nineteenth century well-known English preacher, the one I call my friend, Charles Spurgeon. Here's how he expressed what we've just be talking about: 

Oh, that you and I might get into the very heart of the Word of God, and get that Word into ourselves!

Then he uses an illustration that is so vivid. He says:

As I have seen the silkworm eat into the leaf, and consume it, so ought we to do with the Word of the Lord—not crawl over its surface, but eat right into it till we have taken it into our inmost parts.

Can you just picture that? We don't want to just crawl over the surface of the Word of God. We want to chew it, eat it, take it into our systems. Spurgeon want on to talk about that it is not enough to glance at Scripture or get the details of Scripture in our heads, but that we eat, as he said, the very soul of Scripture—until Scripture just oozes out of us. It's part of us. It's integrated into the very core of our being.

He went on to talk about another pastor/author, a man named John Bunyan, who was an example of taking the Word into your system this way. Spurgeon said of John Bunyan

Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God.¹ 

As I've heard that said of John Bunyan over the years, I've said, "Lord, I want to be a woman that if you prick me anywhere, what comes out is going to be Scripture." I want "Bibline" blood that just flows out the Word of God in whatever circumstance or situation I'm in.

Well, there’s a modern-day John Bunyan who also bleeds Bible when you prick her. Here name is Joni Eareckson Tada. You've heard her many times on this program and others. Today we’re going to hear about how God’s Word sustained Joni in a dark and difficult time.

Joni was one of our speakers at our recent True Woman conference last fall. Due to health issues, she wasn’t able to come in person, so she pre-recorded her message. Wow! Was it powerful! I'm so eager for you to hear it. Before we hear that, in case the name Joni Eareckson Tada is unfamiliar to you, let’s listen to a short summary of why she’s confined to a wheelchair, and how God is using her in the lives of others today.

Joni: For me, it’s personal. It began back in 1967. I was seventeen and athletic. One summer day I went swimming in the bay with my sister. I swam out to this raft anchored a few yards offshore and took a reckless dive into shallow water. I knew then my life had changed forever.

My doctor said, “Joni, you’re going to be paralyzed for the rest of your life, without the use of your hands, your legs . . .” 

I said, “God, I can’t live like this! I won’t live like this!”

Because I couldn’t hold razors or push pills down my throat, I knew I couldn’t end my life physically, so I was tempted to end my life emotionally, mentally, spiritually. I wanted to just lie in bed, tell my mother to turn off the lights and shut the door.

Finally, in the dark behind that closed door, I cried out, “God, if I can’t die, then show me how to live!”

Thankfully, God put Christian friends in my life who opened the Bible and showed me that God permits what He hates to accomplish that which He loves. He permits awful things like paralysis to bring forth Christ in me, the hope of glory. My Christian friends helped me find purpose in that, and I learned to give thanks even in the little things. With each bit of obedience my faith grew, my perspective widened, the world got bigger, and eventually I wheeled out of that dark bedroom and began to embrace life.

I discovered there’s a world of other disabled people in dark bedrooms who, like me, need to embrace life and know God. I started writing about this and speaking, and before I knew it, my message gave birth to Joni and Friends.

If there are folks languishing in isolation without hope, our team at Joni and Friends connects them to local churches and resources, providing a Bible and the hope of Christ. If there’s a marriage breaking apart due to a child’s disability, we’ll scholarship them at one of our family retreats. If there’s a disabled child in Uganda crawling in the dirt, or a grandmother in Guatemala being pushed in a wheelbarrow, our Wheels for the World teams will provide a wheelchair and a Bible in their language. If someone can’t reach any further than the radio, the Joni and Friends radio program brings hope right into their home. Our Christian Institute on Disability trains pastors, policy-makers, and equips churches. And when it comes to the next generation, our Cause for Life interns roll up their sleeves and they do disability ministry in dark corners of the world.

My husband Ken and I are joined by an amazing team at Joni and Friends. Whether at our headquarters in Southern California, our area ministry teams around the country, or our network of partners and volunteers all across the globe, our passion is to see people and special needs families embrace Christ, embrace the circumstances that God puts them in, and embrace life. I was there! I know what it’s like. For me, every face, every life changed, every soul saved is personal. So join me; do as Christ commands in Luke 14. Go out quickly, find the disabled, and bring them into His fellowship. It will not only fill God’s house, it will fill your heart.

Nancy: You’ll find a link to Joni and Friends within the transcript of this program, at ReviveOurHearts.com. 

Joni’s message at True Woman '22 was greatly used by God in many lives. And since you’re not seeing the video right now, I wanted to explain something. At times you'll hear a squeaking sound in the audio. That's the sound of Joni's arm and hand braces that are strapped to her arms as she holds up her hands as she sits and speaks from her wheelchair. So that’s what that little sound is.

Now let’s listen to this precious woman of God who has hidden God’s Word in her heart so beautifully over so many years.

Joni: Oh Nancy and all my friends here at this True Woman conference, thank you for inviting me to be with you this evening! I would give anything to be here in person, but when you are an aging quadriplegic with very poor lung capacity and stamina—well, I just can’t travel like I used to. But, I want you to picture me here “with” you tonight, looking into your faces and speaking to you directly from my heart. 

I want to help you take these rich doctrines of God’s goodness and His sovereignty, and I want you to actually live them out when you need these amazing truths the most. Great doctrines like “God is sovereign” and “God is good”—these things look pleasing on your conference notepad. You instinctively know that they are important and precious fundamentals of your faith, but how do you live out the reality of God’s sovereignty and His goodness in your life? How do you move into it, make it real, apply it? 

When the afterglow of this conference fades—and it will—and you feel yourself slipping back into your old rhythms of life—next week when your migraines kick in or TMJ or severe back pain acts up; when your teenage son slams out the front door, leaving you standing there bewildered; or when you hear those words, “The scan shows cancer,” or “My husband just lost his job,” or “We can’t make the mortgage payments” . . . When hard, deep suffering crouches at your door, how do you engage with God’s sovereignty and His goodness? What does it look like in your afflictions?

I trust that in our time together my few reflections will help you embrace your sovereign God through your toughest of painful trials, because I want you to move beyond merely resigning yourself to your problems with a stiff upper lip or submitting to your hardships with a “woe is me” attitude. Accepting your lot in life means much more than coping or adjusting to hard times. These responses may be completely natural, but they are self-defeating. 

Response mechanisms like these are just that: they are mechanisms, and they fall so far short of how your sovereign God wants you to step into the hard things that He brings your way. So please, take it from me, the lady in the wheelchair: you can move beyond coping to actually embracing your hard, painful problems with hope, anticipation, and with a strong sense that God is up to something big and wonderful in your life. Your afflictions can provide a glorious pathway to genuine joy, deep contentment, and a sweeter, more intimate friendship with the Savior than you ever dreamed possible.

So, how do you get there?

Well, more than fifty-five years of living with quadriplegia, and almost half of that time living with chronic pain. (Do not ask me how a quadriplegic like me can feel pain, but believe me, I do.) After living with pain for so long, I have learned to live on what God says. If He said it, I have to live it. My suffering will not allow me to do anything less. His Word must have its way in my life. Besides, how could I not take Him at His word? I mean, look what He’s done for me! 

There was a time I was guilty, condemned, about to be executed for my sins, trembling, standing (as it were) blindfolded in front of a firing squad. And then this kindly man stepped forward and removed my blindfold, tied it on himself, and said to me, “I love you, Joni, so I’m going to take the bullet for you.” Then this amazing man looked at me and said with great passion, “All I ask is that you tell others what I have done for you and that my love will do the same for them.” Then this kindly man straightened, faced the deadly line of rifles, and said, “Fire.” 

So, as far as I’m concerned, that man has my confidence. He died for me; why would not I trust His Word? He has beyond a doubt proved His love for me, so that man has earned my trust, and He has the same for you. The Son of Man (Jesus’ favorite title for Himself) has said, “Let me go to the cross instead of you.” Jesus took the bullet for you.

So we listen up when He speaks. We live on what He has to say. When we suffer, there must be good reasons. His Word is filled with comfort and strength, guidance and hope and encouragement. Our Savior extends a very special assurance that helps those who suffer even thrive. It is an assurance that I cling to every single day. Psalm 119:50 says this: “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promises give me life.”

Okay, for you who suffer hard, God has a special comfort for you: it is His Bible promises. Every blood-bought promise in God’s Word imparts life, gives grace, energy, strength, power. Every Bible promise gives assurance that you can survive in your afflictions, that you will make it through the worst of hardships, and that you can even flourish. Our God is sovereign, and that means every Bible promise is guaranteed. Our God is good; that means in His promises He has your best interest at heart.

 

When you live on Bible promises, you are resting your life in the hands of your good and sovereign God, and although a painful trial may not seem good at the time, God pledges to you—He has a promise for you. In Jeremiah 32:40–41 He says, “I will never stop doing good to them and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good” (paraphrase).

Oh friend, clinging to a promise like that you’re in the safest place in the universe. You have tucked yourself in the cleft of the rock. You are in the shelter of His wings, in the shadow of the Almighty. Living on God’s promises is the surest way to bring the greatest glory to your God and Savior, and it’s the way I live in this wheelchair. It’s the way I live with pain. It’s the way I trust my sovereign and good God.

Let me show you what living on His promises looks like, okay?

This past summer Ken and I had a chance to spend a few days up at a friend’s lake house in the Sierra Mountains. I really needed the rest, and so did Ken. It had been a busy season at our ministry of Joni and Friends, and we were both weary. Ken was tired from nonstop caregiving.

When we arrived at the lake house, I insisted that he take the bedroom at the far end, beyond the kitchen, while my helper stayed down the hallway with a baby monitor between our rooms; that way, if I awakened in pain during the night I could call for her. As she was helping me get ready for bed, I noticed a large slatted wood plaque hanging on my bedroom wall—this is an actual photo of that very plaque—and I admired it. It was a calligraphy of Joshua 1:9, where God says, 

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

I remember being comforted by that verse as my friend put me to bed, raised me up on my side, and tucked pillows behind me, getting me as comfortable as possible with my pain. She left and closed the door on her way out. As she went down the hallway, I almost called for her to come back and leave the door ajar. But then again, if I did need her I could call her in her room using the monitor on my bedside table. So I drifted off to sleep.

At one a.m. I was jolted awake by excruciating pain. It happens a lot at night, given that I don’t move and must lay in one position. In the dark I could see the tiny green light on the monitor, so I called softly for my friend to come help me reposition my hips. When she did not respond, I called again. Then a little louder. I reasoned to myself, “She must be sleeping very soundly.” So I yelled, but no answer.

After a few minutes my pain was really piercing. I said, “Lord, I’m never going to make it until morning, lying here in this position in so much pain! Please help me wake her up!”

That’s when, in the dark, I drew a deep breath and I screamed, “Help! Help me!” The house was silent.

Now my heart was racing, because I was in terrible trouble, lying paralyzed in one position, stiff, knowing that morning was hours away. But before panic seized me, I recalled that promise on the slatted wood plaque, Joshua 1:9. So I prayed, “Jesus, it’s a promise. You tell me to be strong and courageous, and You’re going to be with me. I need You to make good on this verse. Please keep anxiety away and help me to have courage.”

My head scrambled to remember other promises, and suddenly Psalm 18:6 popped to mind. (I’m so grateful for all the verses I know by heart.) It says, 

In my distress I called out to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.

Well, being one who takes the Bible literally, God was telling me here to cry out to Him. So, lying in bed on my side and facing the wall, I cried out every Bible promise I could think of. I screamed them, hoping that my helper would hear me. “Lord, You are my ever present help in this trouble! Your grace,” I’m screaming, “is sufficient! Your name, Jesus, is a strong tower!”

But still no answer. No response from my helper. Keeping as calm as I could, I continued to call out, cry out to God for help, screaming to Him. 

God, You will keep me in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee! (Isa. 26:3)

The one who stands firm to the end will be saved! (Matt. 10:22)

I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. (Psalm 116:1)

I’m blaring out these promises for nearly an hour, and my lungs were beginning to get tired. It would have been so easy for me to panic, but I encouraged myself. I strengthened myself in the Lord, knowing that if He chose not to wake up my helper—because we have a sovereign God, don’t we?—then He would give me enough grace to get me through until morning.

This is kind of what it means to strengthen yourself in the Lord, right? First Samuel 30 speaks of David being greatly distressed, but it says that he strengthened himself in the Lord, he reminded himself of God’s goodness and God’s sovereignty and that He always comes through on His Word. So that’s what I did.

I was also bolstered remembering the many, many, many thousands of people with disabilities in other parts of the world who live in constant pain who have no one to help them. Who am I in the middle of the night to think that I’m above them? It was a humbling thought. So I put it to rest. If my helper down the hallway could not be awakened, God would help me through the watches of the night.

Before my strength gave out entirely and I just gave up, I yelled one more promise. “God is for me, never against me!”

Just then, I heard a click on the monitor. I looked at the digital clock on the ceiling; it was almost two o’ clock in the morning. I heard footsteps running up the hallway. My helper burst into the room, breathless, apologizing, and explaining that she had set the volume too low on the monitor. She quickly repositioned me. She thought I would be angry, but I told her it was okay, because God had given me what He promised in Joshua 1:9; He gave me an abiding assurance of His presence as well as His courage.

When all was settled, she left to go back to her room, but I did tell her to leave the door open and test the volume on the monitor.

What a night! But I went back to sleep feeling so grateful. God had given me a chance to prove—that’s what happened that night; I’d proved the trustworthiness of my Savior. Every time we trust His promises, we have this glorious opportunity to testify to His goodness, to show that we are pleased with His sovereign plan, no matter how painful or bizarre it seems at the time. Trusting in His Word keeps us from being spiteful, nit-picky, angry, judgmental. I mean, I guess I could have barked at my helper, you know? Some might have said I’d be justified in snapping at her. But that would have nullified completely, it would have canceled any good accomplished with those promises. My efforts would have meant nothing.

So, the cosmic stakes are raised, and they are raised high, when we cling to Bible promises in our suffering, because all of heaven, all of the angelic host, all the powers and principalities in the unseen world—yes, even demons—all of them are standing on tiptoe, intensely interested in whether you will believe what God has promised or not. 

They want to see whether you’ll say yes to His Word and say no to fear, doubt, anxiety, complaining, grumbling, nit-picking, discouragement. I mean, suffering really does raise the stakes on God’s glory, because (get this) the harder it is to trust God in great pain or affliction, the more glory you give Him when you appropriate His promises.

Dannah: Joni Eareckson Tada has been talking about the whole idea of trusting, banking on the promises of Scripture. She recorded that message for us to play at True Woman '22.

Nancy: That picture of Joni lying in her bed in the middle of the night in extreme pain with no one to help her and calling out the promises of God is a picture that I don't think any of us will forget. 

And what a blessing those promises from God’s Word proved to be to Joni that night in her distress! As I listened to that message that night, I found myself wondering if I were in her situation, how many passages of Scripture could I call out from memory? Joni was able to do that because of the years, the decades she’s spent memorizing and reviewing and reciting those passages. What an example she is to us all!

Dannah: Nancy, what would you say to someone who is just starting out? Maybe they haven’t really memorized much at all.

Nancy: Well, there’s no magic place to start. I would say the key word is "start." Just start. Choose a Bible translation that you’re comfortable with, and then find a verse or a short passage that relates to something you’re going through right now. Or find a list of Bible promises and start working your way through them. Or maybe you could use the Scripture cards we’re making available this month. We are calling them Savor and Share Scripture Cards. These are fifty-two different verses on a variety of topics. 

These are Scriptures for you to repeat over and over and over again until they are stored up in your heart. As you do, you'll find there are circumstances in your life where you have savored will just be there to give you the encouragement and the hope that you need. Or, as I often find is the case. You'll be in a conversation with someone else who's in a distressing situation. The Lord will help you share out of your own journey and out of His Word the Scripture that has blessed and ministered to you, and it will be a source of help to them.

Dannah: You know, there are fifty-two Scripture cards in this set from Revive Our Hearts. And, it just so happens that there are fifty-two weeks in the year. 

Nancy: Right, we did that on purpose so that you could take one card per week, read the verse, think about it all week long (meditate on it), and yes, maybe even memorize it. I think verse per week should be more than doable for 99.9% of our audience.

Dannah: The Savor and Share set of fifty-two Scripture cards is our way of saying thank you for your donation of any size to Revive Our Hearts. To give, just visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. Ask about the Scripture cards when you contact us with your donation. 

Tomorrow Joni will be back to show us the beautiful connection between the promises of God and our Savior, Jesus. I hope you’ll be back for Revive Our Hearts.

Helping you find comfort in the promises of God, Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth shows you freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

All Scripture is taken from the NIV unless otherwise noted.

¹"Mr. Spurgeon as a Literary Man," in The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon, Compiled from His Letters, Diaries, and Records by His Wife and Private Secretary, vol. 4, 1878–1892 (Curtis & Jennings, 1900), p. 268.

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