Bullying is a serious thing. Nowadays, kids are able to bully other kids verbally, physically and now virtually. For James Innell Packer, bullying changed his life forever.
“He was always being bullied. Another boy chased him out of school grounds on to the busy London Road outside. A passing bread van could not avoid hitting him. He was thrown to the ground with a major head injury. The young boy was taken to the Gloucester Royal Infirmary and rushed into the operating room. He was discovered to have a depressed compound fracture of the frontal bone on the right side of his forehead, with injury to the frontal lobe of the brain. After surgery, the boy was left with a small hole in his right forehead, about two centimeters in diameter. The injury would remain clearly visible for the rest of his life.” (p. 1)
So what can we learn from this unfortunate circumstance?
Packer’s injury was
used by God to mold him and stretch him.
How did it mold him? As a boy, Packer was quiet and
introspective. His love for reading was quite apparent early in childhood. This
was the boy who was filled with delight when he received a typewriter as a
present (age 11). Yet his injury intensified his shyness and introverted
nature. Outside play seemed uncontrolled, which led to indoor activities, free
from the unknowns and uncertainty of physical play.
Undoubtedly, God used this injury to mold the intellect of
J.I. Packer. The hours indoors, typing on the typewriter, processing creative
thoughts, instilled within Packer a discipline that soon God would use to
enlighten the minds of Christians around the world.
But though this injury was molding the young Packer into a great
intellect, God also used it to stretch him, reminding him that he still need
God’s grace for every moment of every day. Social interactions were difficult
for Packer. Sustaining friendships proved a greater challenge than the feelings
of loneliness he occasionally felt. But, as with anything in life, the bigger
God becomes to you, the less important you see yourself.
If you have read the writings of J.I. Packer, then you would
expect him to view his injury in the proper perspective. This is a man that
believed in the sovereignty of God. This is a man who understood that God has
ordained every event in this life (Prov. 16:4). This is a man that believed God
works all things together for his good (even facial deformities), to help make
him more into the image of Christ (Rom. 8:28-29).
A proper view of God is essential to proper thinking, especially
in the midst of a “tragic” or “unfortunate” accident. What comfort in knowing
there is a good God who is in control! Not only that, but the comfort knowing that
God has orchestrated events to produce the growth needed to accomplish His
will.
Is “thinking” this way always easy? No, because often God
doesn’t give us the reasons for His actions, nor is He required to (Job 38:1-5).
The creation must trust in the goodness of the Creator. The Christian must
believe in the promises found in the Bible, which are from the mouth of God
Himself. Therefore, if the Bible says God is good and His ways are perfect,
then my sister (and brother-in-law) who raises a child with autism can have “indescribable
joy” (James 1:2-4) knowing that God will not only give them the daily grace to
accomplish the task He has ordained, but also the knowledge that this is God’s
perfect way to “make them complete in Christ” (2 Cor. 12:9-10).
Did J.I. Packer have days when he asked, “Why me, God?”
Maybe early in his Christian life. But the mature Packer would tell you that is
a foolish question to ask. The reason it is foolish because the Bible says that
God is good. The question you should be asking is this, “Do I believe and trust
what the Bible says?”
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no
variation or shadow due to change.
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