“As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And his
disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents,
but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1–3, ESV) (Caps
added to pronouns in ESV referring to God the Father, Son, and Spirit)
I know I am not alone in hearing, thinking, and even
verbalizing phrases such as, “What did I (or someone else we know) do to
deserve this?” Or, possibly feeling that
nothing warrenting a particular response occurring, we’ve said “That’s not
fair.” There is this tendency to think that good things happen to good people
and bad things happen to bad ones. “You get what you deserve.” But this
presupposition is regularly challenged when “bad” people get away with stuff
and “good” people suffer. The reality of life is that there is no clear line
which can be drawn pointing to any of these things being universally true.
There is something in this kind of preferential logic that breaks down in
reality.
Maybe the answer is found in a breakdown in control as
suggested by Rabbi Harold Kushner in his bestselling book, “When bad Things
Happen to Good People.” Assuming that people are good, some try to resolve the
issue of negative circumstances occurring in people’s lives by saying that
there are things outside of God’s control. Either God is disinterested, unable,
or unwilling to step in and make a difference or alter the outcomes. Bad things
happen to good people because God can’t or won’t stop it (for whatever reason).
This is a common belief, but it is also one that is wrong in a number of key
areas.
It is wrong in that it infers that God is limited. The Bible
clearly shouts about our boundless God who is fully able to do all that He
intends and will bring all of these things to completion. He is without limit
in His strength, knowledge, wisdom, love, presence, and so much more. He is
infinite in all that He is. This means that He is without limit and without
beginning and end. He can never become exhausted, distracted, or depleted. He always
has been and always will be fully and infinitely God. This is true of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
God is not disinterested. The Bible declares His love for
man from beginning to end. He created man, and when man rebelled He did not
abandon Him. He sent His Only Son to become man and suffer for man’s sake so
that man’s sins might be forgiven and his relationship restored with God. No, God
is not disinterested. He is intensely interested. Passages such as Psalm 139
speak of how He encloses us before and behind, how He knows our every thought
and every word on our tongue before they are ever formed. He knows all of the
days of our lives in their most intimate detail before there was ever one day
of lives. God is very much interested and involved.
The issue of bad things happening to people is not a failure
or weakness of God. But rather, it is a result of man’s rebellion. Man was
created without sin, in a full and eternal relationship with God, and was
placed in a creation that was very good. Man was given one thing not to do, and
he did that thing. He ate from the tree and sinned. As a result of that sin he
became spiritually darkened and separated from God. He was put out of the
garden. His work became arduous with weeds and pain becoming a part of the new normal
course of life. The world was subsequently changed because of man’s great sin.
All of creation was affected by man’s sin. No longer was man “good,” but man
was judged guilty of sin and deserving of separation. But God did not leave man
this way. He continued to make Himself known to man leading to this right time
when He even provided His promised Redeemer.
The reality is that we live in a world affected by the sin
of man and these effects happen regardless of whether people know God or
not. When a person trusts Jesus for salvation God does not immediately remove
him or her from all of this, but He keeps us here and He sustains us as He does
His work in and through us including even leading others to Himself.
So, back to the disciples’ question, “Who sinned?” Jesus
said that the man’s blindness was not as a result of specific sin. He responded
to them saying, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the
works of God might be displayed in him.” Jesus did not deny any sin at all in
the man’s or his parents’ lives, but He said that his blindness was not a
result of specific sin. Rather, Jesus pointed to a greater cause which was that
through what Jesus was about to do that the works of God might be clearly shown
in him. Specifically for this man, we will go on to read that Jesus gave him physical
sight for the first time in his life. As a result many would again marvel at
His works. But as we also will continue to read, there were those who continued
in antagonistic disbelief.
There are many things in our lives that we simply don’t know
why they happen or don’t happen. Some things just don’t make a lot of sense
from our side of things. But our side of things is very limited. We don’t have
eternity and full knowledge as our framework. What many people have is what they
see and what they have seen from experience, and if this is all they have then there
really is no great reason for hope. But for those of us who know God and who
have placed our trust in Him, being saved by faith in His Son, we have the
confidence of knowing that God is good and He is firmly in control. We don’t
have to have all of the answers, what we have is proven faith. We have a faith
that is not empty well-wishing, but firmly placed in our unlimited and faithful
God.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:45, “For He makes His sun rise on
the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
(Matthew 5:44–45, ESV) In the last blog I quoted John 16:33 which Jesus spoke
to His disciples on the night He was betrayed. I’m going to back up a verse and
re-quote the verse adding verse 32 reflecting the soon response of the
disciples upon His arrest and pending crucifixion. “Behold, the hour is coming,
indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will
leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me. I have said
these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have
tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:32–33, ESV)
We live in a world where evil is prevalent and man apart from God is a slave to
sin. Even as believers who have been set free from this slavery we still struggle
in various ways, we experience the good and the bad, the rain and the drought.
We are subject to the same economies, diseases, and things that non-believers
are, and we live among all of these other people who affect us in many, many ways.
There is no immunity from this. The answer is not found in avoiding them, but
in leaning on our faithful God to bring us through them.
“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter
various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And
let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4, NASB95)
Looking at the whole picture we might ask, “Who did
something wrong, the Christ or the Father, that He should be hung on a cross?”
The answer is neither. Jesus went to the cross so that the works of the Father might
be displayed in Him. As we live, trusting Him, He continues to prove Himself in
us.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger,
or sword?” … “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him
who loved us.” (Romans 8:35, 37, ESV)
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