John 9:3-5 -- Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must carry out the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”
The journey continues today as we see Jesus respond to His disciple's question: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?". They thought it to be a theological puzzle that needed the how, why, and who solved. However, Jesus quickly corrects them.
Jesus makes clear this man's blindness isn't because of his own sin or his parents. Instead, He skips past the how/why/who stage and points it back to God. What mattered was this situation could and would be used for God's glory.
Christian, do you realize God can and will work all things for good, even in your darkest, most painful, storms? Sometimes He will remove us from the storm, bring healing, provision, or restoration. Other times He anchors and strengthens us to walk through it with Him. He can bring us joy and contentment that make no sense given our current circumstances. It doesn't mean we don't pray and believe for miraculous things, but it does mean we can't close our eyes to the fact the "GOOD" in Romans 8:28 can be in many forms, not just the one we see as the ultimate outcome for our situation.
I believe my wife would agree but the hardest year in our twenty-three years together was 2021. The storms and circumstances pressed in so fiercely we had to stop every ten minutes, of every waking hour, for months, and fall on our faces before God and ask Him to help us breath.
It would've been easy to take the disciples stance and ask, "Why God? Whose fault is this? Whose sin led to this? How did we end up in this storm?". Honestly, the devil and our own flesh tried to drive us there, over, and over. To cripple us by getting us stuck on the how/why/who.
God saved us and our family through one simple thing. All we knew to do was go to the Lord over and over and over in prayer and in His Word. In doing so the Lord brought us to Proverbs 3:5-6.
Proverbs 3:5-6 -- Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
He didn't remove the storm. He didn't change the circumstances. He gave us a very specific and powerful anchor in His Word to cling to. And cling to it we did, all day, every day, for months. Until one day we walked out the other side with the Lord before us, behind us, and right beside us. God changed us individually, our marriage, and our family through it all. Had we not gone through it, I can't say we'd be as strong and unshakably rooted in God. I definitely wouldn't be doing this daily blog or running a site dedicated to Him.
Beloved, don't run aground on the how/why/who. Take every storm, hurt, trouble, circumstance to the Lord first and consistently. Stay in prayer and in His Word because He WILL guide and anchor you with those things. Absolutely ask your Father in Heaven for miraculous things. Just don't set your eyes so hard upon what you see as the answer, that you take your eyes off God and miss His direction for you in it and through it all.
Eyes on Jesus, not the storm!
Well, that was not where I expected to go on today, but it's where He went. Every day is full of adventure when walking with Him for sure!
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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