Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Shauna: This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Joni’s been talking about the parables of Jesus, and she’s got some more deep and wonderful insights for us today.

Joni Eareckson Tada: But first let me start by saying that I would not trade God’s will for me for all the world. Yes, I know God’s will for me includes a lifelong struggle with quadriplegia and daily struggles with chronic pain. God’s will for me includes the specter of cancer and this wheelchair with all its headaches. But still, I would not trade it for anything.

And it was only when I embraced my challenges that I discovered how precious God’s will really is. Because when you embrace God’s will, everything changes, absolutely everything. It’s very much like the parable of the hidden treasure. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 13 verse 44, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

Now, looking at this parable, I think the key word is the word "bought." We must buy the field. We must purchase it, we must own it and make it ours. Normally in this parable, our focus is on the treasure. We don’t think a whole lot about the field except that God wants us to buy it. And so we assume that the field is attractive, something we would love to purchase anyway, maybe a sun-drenched meadow dappled with wildflowers. We think that the field God wants us to buy is the field everybody wants.

But it rarely is. The field, that is that thing God wants us to embrace, is usually pretty bleak. It’s more like a sandlot with broken bottles and old tires scattered here and there. It’s more like a barren field with a lot of thorns and thistles. Of course, once you know that the scruffy field contains a treasure, the whole picture changes. The empty scrap of useless land suddenly brims with possibilities. It may appear undesirable on the surface, but now we are ready to sell everything to buy it.

In my case, my field was full of rocks. It was full of problems and paralysis. It was a field that at first I did not want to own or make mine. For me, selling everything in order to gain the hidden treasure in my field meant giving up self-pity, giving up resentment over a body that no longer worked. Selling everything meant putting aside my questions and instead investing the hours I sit in this wheelchair in pursuit of God and His Word.

My wheelchair, in fact, made it convenient to study. I sit all the time, so why not sit and read? And the time I used in God’s Word and in prayer was like picking up a shovel and unearthing the hidden treasure in my field. And the treasure that I found? Jesus, the Pearl of Great Price. He is ecstasy beyond compare, and it’s worth owning the field, owning my weakness in order to find Him.

On the surface, my field still looks pretty bleak. The paralyzed legs, the hands that don’t work, and probably nobody else would want to buy this field. But to me, it is so beautiful because underneath the surface is the treasure, the priceless treasure of knowing Jesus better.

Shauna: Wow. Hearing from Joni’s heart like this is always so powerful. And listening friend, I know you agree. Here’s my question for you today: What does your field look like? What treasures have you found thus far? And are you ready to sell everything, that is, to give up your pride and give up your preferences in order to fully embrace the field Jesus has for you? Because when you do, that’s when you’ll find God’s great treasure. We know you can do it, friend. We are cheering you on, and better yet, we’re spurring you on in prayer.