Jesus, The Master of Circumstances

John 9: 1 – 7 (NIV): 1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His 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. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7 "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

   Often, we assume God is punishing us for some sin when we suffer. We think Karma rules our lives. Something bad happens to someone and we think, “Wow, he must have done something really bad to cause that to happen to him.” Jesus tells us in this Scripture this is simply not true. It is true that we bring bad results on ourselves by the choices we make, but we must not think that God is punishing us every time something bad happens.

    In this account, Jesus said the man was born blind so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. Jesus showed his power by healing him for all to see. And not only that, he was saved by Jesus (vs 28). If he had not been blind he might not have been saved. A few years of suffering is worth eternity in heaven. What we must remember is that God is always up to something good. We may not understand it at the time, but we must trust that God is in control and knows what he is doing.

    Sometimes this is really hard to do, but that is what faith is all about. Why did Jesus make mud out of spit and put it on his eyes? Why didn’t he just say, “be healed?” I don’t know! Maybe that’s the point. Maybe we just simply do not always understand why God does what he does. Maybe Jesus wanted the man to do something himself to see if he had faith. Maybe Jesus wanted more people involved. After all, someone had to take the blind man to the Pool of Siloam.
    No matter what happens, God is Sovereign and in control. Jesus is the Master of Circumstances.

The Heavens Declare God’s Glory

Psalm 19: 1 -4a (NIV): 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

The majesty of nature tells us there is a God. His creation proves that he exists and that he is powerful and creative. David, who wrote this Psalm, would lie out under the stars at night, and would see the sun on its course each day. He could see that something – or someone – big must have created all of this.

    We know more now than we did in David’s day about the cosmos. We know that the stars we can see with the naked eye are only the stars that belong to our galaxy, and there may be billions of galaxies. It boggles the mind. But amazingly, the more we discover, the bigger God gets. The more we discover, the more we realize that the universe must have had a creator.  The laws of physics continue to astound and mystify us. The heavens declare the glory or God.

    And everyone can see it. Some choose not to. Some refuse to believe in God, but everyone can see the sky, and the sky tells us there is a God. It doesn’t matter where you live or what language you speak, you know from looking up that there is a creator. (And yes, Helen Keller knew that God existed even though she couldn’t see or hear!) Paul says no one has the excuse of not believing in God because everyone can see and feel and hear and taste the handiwork of his creation (Romans 1:20).

    Psalm 14 says, “The fool says in his heart there is no God.” And why would someone deny that God exists with all this evidence around us? Because their hearts are sinful and they don’t want God or anyone else telling them how to live their lives.

    David goes on to say in this Psalm that God’s Word is perfect and will make us wise and give us joy. God’s laws are more precious than gold and sweeter than honey, he says. He realizes that he is a sinner but asks God to keep him from temptation. Then he says, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”