"For His Glory"

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. (John 9:1-7 NIV).

Today’s reading is one of my favorite miracles. It not only teaches the principle of Jesus’ power and sovereignty, but also His compassion and grace. The disciples brought a blind man to Jesus and wanted to know why the man was blind. The man had been blind since birth and the disciples were trying to figure out the reason for it. They wondered if the man's parents had sinned and the man was subsequently being punished for it. They also considered the man's own sins possibly resulting in the punishment of blindness. Jesus gave the disciples an astonishing answer. He said (in my own paraphrased version), "this was allowed to happen to him so that it might bring glory to God." Just as Jesus spoke those words, He healed the man of his blindness.

As a result of the healing, many things happened. The man spread word of Jesus' power to perform an amazing miracle. The Lord was given credit for healing him, resulting in more people believing in God. Most importantly, a story was created that we might read about thousands of years later in an effort to learn more about the character of God. All these things happened as a result of a few moments with Jesus. Imagine; the man spent a life of difficulty dealing with his blindness, all so Jesus could heal him at that exact moment. It is crazy to think that God would orchestrate that in the man's life before he was even born, but it is exactly what happened. The man's life and blindness were intended for glory. The Lord had something in mind and it required someone living almost an entire lifetime with blindness. All this was planned in order that God might be praised through a miracle moment.

This puts new light on the situation that you are going through right now. Maybe you didn't sin and maybe no one did anything wrong. Maybe all that is occurring in your life is an effort to create a crazy, beautiful story that will bring glory to God. In everything that happens for you, God is at work and He wants ALL of it to point to Him. Every situation in your life is an opportunity to bring Glory to God, no matter how big the miracle required to turn it around. In fact, the bigger the miracle, the bigger the story, and the more glory it brings to the Lord. The next time you question all the things in your life, consider that God is at work, setting you up for a moment in time with Jesus. Get ready. When your miracle happens, it's going to be big; get ready to praise Him. After all, it was intended for glory.