"As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth." - John 9:1 (NLT)Blind from birth. Most of us cannot even begin to comprehend what life must have been like for this man. In a society where people were scarcely able to make ends meet under normal circumstances, blindness brought any hopes of getting ahead or even caring for oneself to a halt. I can't imagine how many times he lifted his tear-streaked face heavenward and uttered,"Why God? Why me? Why this?"
He wasn't alone, for when Jesus and His disciples came across this man, the disciples asked, "Why was this man born blind?" The disciples assumed this disability was God's way of judging some sort of secret sin, but Jesus gave them a rather surprising answer:
"This happened so the power of God could be seen in him." (John 9:3 NLT)As the story continues, the man is healed, and the questions begin to find answers. His life-long blindness was just the platform God used to prove His power in and through him. This man who couldn't do so much for so long became a vessel of revelation.
Sometimes suffering is simply a backdrop for God to be glorified. We're placed in a position of extreme weakness and vulnerability where we're unable to help ourselves-much less change the situation. But along comes Jesus, and what we could never do for ourselves is accomplished through a single touch from Him. And in the end, He winds up getting every ounce of glory.
Some of us are asking, "Why God? Why me? Why this?"
It's just possible that the answer lies in the fact that our suffering has to happen in order for God's power to be seen.
