John 9:2-3–And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Our human nature is so curious to know the reason “why”, that it can drive us to conclusions that are speculative, and many times inaccurate.   One of the most common phrases I used with my kids when they were younger, asking questions only God could answer, was, “I don’t know”.  Though I could’ve used some superstitious speculation as to why something happened this or that way, I refrained because I realized the years it took me to unravel falsehoods passed down…

In the case of this man being born blind, the rabbis taught that it could be sin from the parents, or the possibility of sinning before birth.  This ideology was something passed down that the disciples of Jesus inherited.  Which caused the religious leaders, to see the miracle of Jesus healing the blind man as a theological problem, rather than a glorious work of God in their midst…

Whenever we remove the possibility of Jesus Christ being glorified in a situation that appears to be “all bad”, we remove the hope of God being able to work any good at all.  Removing ourselves from the reality of not only sin, but birth defects, handicaps, tragedies of all kinds being able to be worked for good!  Even worse we confidently conclude that all bad things must come from our performance or lack of godliness, without acknowledging that “the rain falls on the just and unjust alike”, because we are in a fallen world of sin and death…(Matthew 5:45, Romans 8:28)

Though we should be mindful of our sin, and not think that we can go on sinning and nothing happen, but that too is worked for good, God’s love to discipline us in order to come back to Him!  However, we should not look at the misfortunes of others and quickly attribute ungodliness to them.  It may be the Lord allowing whatever to happen circumstantially, that He can do an even greater work of His glory in their life! (1 Corinthians 11:32)

As we continue to look at the tragedies going on throughout our globe, it is obvious we are in a sinful world, yet do we see the mercy of God who deals with our own sin, and still works good out of it?  Sometimes we expect heavenly circumstances, when God wants to work in the reality of misfortune.    Expectations for heavenly circumstances causes us to miss the opportunity to see God work miraculously, so we miss the confidence we could be building in experiencing His goodness in a world of misfortune.  Fight through the things you see as bad, and go a step further and pray for God to work His goodness in the situation…(2 Corinthians 5:7)

In His Love, Ld