Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 7 June 2024, Friday Message
TOPIC: A Little Bit of Hanging
“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees” – Psalm 119:67-68
A Civil War story is told of a woman who sought the favor of Abraham Lincoln on behalf of her soldier son, who apparently committed an act of treason. A war court found her son guilty and sentenced him to hanging. The mother, undaunted by the news, scraped and clawed all the way to the top to gain the ear of the president.
Lincoln was taken with the woman’s tenacity as well as with her devotion to her family. After reviewing the soldier’s case, Lincoln gave him a pardon. Nevertheless, he hesitated to rejoice with the mother, saying, “Your son may be free, but I still wish we could give him a little bit of hanging.”
Lincoln had it right. Nothing drives home the sweetness of freedom like the bitter taste of a little bit of punishment. Nothing reinforces the blessings of a pardon like standing on the block with the noose around your neck minutes before. The same is true with suffering. When we go through hellish circumstances, God gives us a small taste of the hell we are saved from—suffering is in fact “a little bit of hanging.” It is hell’s splash-over, giving us a bitter but small taste of the real thing.
The result? Our salvation tastes all the sweeter. The blessings of eternal pardon are driven home. “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold” (Ps. 119:71-72).
If we never “went through hell” on earth, how could we possibly appreciate all that God has saved us from? As today’s passage reminds us, it is good that we’ve been afflicted; from it, we learn of God’s decrees, his law is more precious, we stop straying from his side, and we make obedience to him our goal.
Have you experienced “a little bit of hanging” lately? Memorize today’s verse and savor it as your declaration of pardon.
It is good that I have been afflicted in the following ways, Lord…
Joni Eareckson Tada is an American evangelical Christian author, radio host, artist, and founder of Joni and Friends, an organization “accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community”.