On March 24, 1820, a little girl was born to a couple in Putnam, New York.
Even though they were poor, when their six-week-old daughter developed a cold and eye infection, the parents called for the doctor. The family doctor couldn't come, but another was sent in the physician's stead. The man prescribed that the baby's infection be treated with hot poultices. It was a terrible decision as the little girl was soon declared to be irreversibly blind. That tragedy of infancy was doubled by the death of the girl's father before she was a year old.
Eventually, the bright, blind girl went to school, graduated, and fell in love. She and her husband were thrilled when their marriage was blessed with a little girl whom they named Frances. The daughter, Frances, died when she was but a baby.
Blinded by a doctor's negligence, robbed of a parent and a child by death, this woman could have spent her years agonizing about life's injustice, shaking her fist at heaven's unfairness.
She could have, but she didn't.
About the physician who had blinded her, she later said, "If I could meet him now, I would say 'Thank you, thank you,' over and over again for making me blind." Fanny Crosby felt that her blindness had been a gift from God to help her write the 8,000 hymns, which flowed from her pen. Trusting in the love of the Christ who had died so she might live forever, Fanny Crosby knew that her pains had come so God could make her better -- not bitter. That's why she could write,
"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Perfect submission, perfect delight! Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Perfect submission, all is at rest! I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with his goodness, lost in His love."
Frances Jane Crosby understood a loving God remains in control. She believed Paul who wrote to the persecuted church in Rome that "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." She knew -- as all of God's people should know -- God has shown His love for us through the sacrifice of His Son.
In Jesus all who believe are given forgiveness, salvation, hope, and eternal life. Christians have no immunity from the anguish and agony of life, nor do they live untouched by suffering and sorrow. For these things are common to all men, including those who are redeemed by the crucified and risen Christ. But they also know that if God is for them, no one can successfully be against them.
They believe that the Heavenly Father who did not shrink from sacrificing His own Son, but gave Him up for our salvation, will graciously continue to give us all things (see Romans 8:31-32).
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, grant that I may trust You, even when I may not understand. This I ask in the Savior's Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Lutheran Hour Ministries
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