Aha!
Ever had an “Aha moment?” Like when you discovered coffee is amazing. Or that you needed reading glasses.
We’ll probably experience lots of aha moments in heaven. For now, we have lots of head-scratching and wondering moments.
Jesus’ disciples had one.
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” (John 9:2).
The disciples asked a fair question. Back then, most believed people who suffered were sinners. Those who prospered weren’t.
It seems the disciples saw the man who couldn’t see, scratched their heads, and wondered. What sin could this man have committed before he was even born to deserve blindness?
Jesus said, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Aha! His blindness wasn’t about him or his parents at all. God meant it for his good so that he would come to know Jesus. But ultimately, God purposed it to display His glory through His works.
Jesus covered the man’s eyes with mud and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam.
Bizarre method?
Jesus always had His purposes. Perhaps to give a visual picture of the internal work He was performing in the blind man.
Whatever Jesus’s exact purposes, the blind man came back seeing (John 9:6-7).
The religious leaders grumbled at Jesus, but the smiling man and the shocked crowd gave glory to God because of Jesus.
It’s easy for us to get so caught up in the miracle Jesus performed for this man that we fail to notice the previous burden He’d laid on the man from his birth to this glorious moment—the burden of blindness.
The Mysterious Plans of the God of Love
Imagine growing up blind in Jesus’ day.
No governmental programs or support groups formed to make life easier.
The blind held little hope of thriving in the world. Survival was their goal.
And yet, God planned the man’s blindness from birth.
Ouch! Seem cruel? It was certainly uncomfortable to say the least.
But the truth remains: All God’s works are perfect. All His ways are just. He does no wrong (Deuteronomy 32:4).
Jesus’ love for us is matchless, but our comfort isn’t His highest purpose.
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. True. But His highest purpose was to glorify the Father, which seeking and saving the lost accomplishes.
Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, “Father, save Me from this hour?” But for this purpose I came to this hour. “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
– John 12:27-28
God’s Glory
God’s glory is the sum of all He is — love, grace, mercy, truth, power, justice, and every good and perfect attribute that radiates from God’s nature.
His highest purpose is His glory. Not our comfort. Not even His love or justice. This is great news for us.
If God’s highest purpose were justice, our sin would require judgment. We’d all be sunk. Doomed.
If His highest purpose were love, we might suffer continuously and needlessly at the hands of evil because God’s love would overlook justice due us in favor of love toward the evil doer.
If God’s highest purpose were our comfort, we’d never grow. I was that mom who always ran to rescue my children and sought to alleviate any possible suffering they might endure. My husband taught me that there were time we must let them struggle so they could become strong and responsible members of society.
Our conversation reminded me that it was when I rebelled against God and fell flat on my face through my rebellion that I realized my desperate need of a Savior. God used my struggles to draw me to Him.
God’s highest purpose isn’t just one of His traits but His full glory. All that He is comes to bear on everything that touches our lives. Including our suffering.
God’s love, justice, mercy, grace, power, etc. work together in our lives to reveal His glory for our good—to lead us to salvation and make us more like Christ.
I Was Blind But Now I See
Jesus came to the blind man through the man’s desperate need.
Jesus opened the man’s physical eyes and his spiritual eyes to Him (the Light of the world), and He became the man’s salvation (John 9:35-37).
The man’s suffering was the very path God used to bring him to his aha moment. “Lord, I believe” (John 9:38).
When darkness surrounds us, may God open our eyes to see the good news of the Light of His great glory.
May we trust in all He is so that His glory will be revealed in and through us.
And may we remember that one day our suffering will pass, and we will behold Christ’s glory, share in His glory, and remember our suffering no more (Romans 8:18, Colossians 3:4, 2 Thessalonians 1:10).
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
– Romans 8:18 ESV
Aha!
