I was thinking about how in depth God knows each of us. This is important, because society would give us the impression that people with impairments are "mistakes" if born with a disability. Science even uses terms that imply human characteristics are errors. But if you look at the Bible, we see passages such as these...
29"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31"So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.( Matthew 30)
29"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31"So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.( Matthew 30)
13For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well. (Psalm 139)
7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good...
18But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable (1 Corinthians)
There is an intimacy there. The implication is that every life has purpose and value. That may help in the acceptance of God's sovereignty, which can be very hard to accept. At the same time, this perspective flies in the face of randomness, of a random world just going on with no purpose. Without God, the experience of disability would particularly difficult, I would think, as aspects of life that might seem unfair and particularly difficult would have no meaning or purpose. That might have been the Apostle Paul's perspective when he relates that he prayed for healing 3 times. Ultimately he receives an answer from God...
9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12)
There seems to be a change that comes over Paul. He is still the same, with the same "thorn" that he had before God's response, however, he moves from praying for his impairment to be removed (nothing wrong with that prayer, by the way) to stating...
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12)
He understands the social consequences of disability with his comments regarding his experience with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties. He accepts the sometimes very difficult sovereignty of God, and concludes this passage with the statement, "For when I am weak, then I am strong." He is strong in God's grace. Perhaps he sees a purpose in his experience. At the very least he is leaning with all his might on the grace of God, which God says will be sufficient for him. I have to believe that if God tells you that His grace is sufficient, He is both telling you the truth, and He is making a committment to you that His grace will be sufficient.
If God has the ability to change a person born with a disability, or heal a person with an acquired disability, and He doesn't we must lean on his grace which he says will be sufficient. That is in no way easy. It may be incredibly difficult. We must ask God to give us the faith in the promises of God. At that point we endeavor to believe in His intimate knowledge of us, His purposes for us, and call on him to follow through on His promise that His grace is sufficient for us. But more than that...
I have to believe in His intimate knowledge of me.
I have to believe He has a purpose for me.
I must believe that His sovereignty is right for me.
I must know that He has a purpose for me.
Because He says that His grace is sufficient for me, as He intimately knows me, as I am.
McNair