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Lord, we thank you for the start of another week and another day. “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it!” We pray, Heavenly Father, that you would help us to clear our minds of any distractions as we focus on your Holy Word this day. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer!” Amen.
John 9: 1 - 7
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
This week’s topic in the Explore God sermon series is “Why does God allow pain and suffering?” I appreciate that the organizers of the Explore God initiative included this topic since it has to be one of the most frequently asked questions among both Christ-followers and those who are far from God.
As we heard at Point of Grace on Sunday, we know that the question defies a simple, pat answer. The question is huge and so is the answer. We know God is omnipotent, so it is not a matter of God not being able to prevent pain and suffering. It is a matter of trying to understand the way God operates, the “mind of Christ”.
We know we will never fully understand God, but in today’s reading Jesus gives us some insight into His ways. Jesus says in verse 3 that the man was born blind “so that the works of God might be displayed in him”. Just think of how many millions of people in the last 2,000 years have heard and read the story of this man and the way Jesus miraculously healed him!
Let’s thank God that we get to benefit from the “works of God” He displayed in this man many years ago, even though he must have endured years of pain and suffering. Lord, help us to look at the pain and suffering around us in a different way, through your kingdom eyes instead of through our limited human eyes!
Mark