In New Testament times the Jewish religious leaders often presumed that sickness or disease was a sign of sin by either the person or their parents/grandparents. Even the disciples bought into this idea.
John 9:2-3
2His 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 work of God might be displayed in his life.”
Did you catch that? Here was a blind man. He was born blind. Everyone in that culture had shunned him and his family because they had sinned.
Yet in one sentence Jesus essentially said, ‘no, no…you don’t understand. My father allowed this to happen so that he might be known through this man’s blindness.’
I don’t know of anything more applicable to the state of things in our world today.
With more than 10% of people out of work in Oregon, it would be easy to think that God is punishing them.
As life seems to be getting more difficult, instead of easier, I find myself questioning why God is putting me through this or that. It wouldn’t be rare for a person to go through a difficult life circumstance and blame God for not blessing them.
Yet what I read here is that much of what we go through is God ordained so that the work of God might be displayed in our lives.
What are you going through so that the work of God might be displayed?