And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:1-5)
The man was born blind. The disciples had thought about this sort of thing before. They had come to the conclusion that sin was the reason for such a horrible thing. The question was, “Who sinned, the man or his parents?” Certainly one of them was being punished! Jesus explained that sin was not the reason at all! If sin was not why he was born blind, then why was he? Jesus said, “…but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me.” In other words, the man was born blind so that Jesus could heal him and show the world that He worked the works of God! Does this sound unreasonable? Should God allow a man to be born blind and live his whole life suffering only because He wanted to show His glory in Jesus? Why not? He is God!
Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another to dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called… (Romans 9:20-24)
What if you are right here, right now, in the circumstances you are in strictly that God may show His glory by using you? This could be (and probably is) the case! We could complain and blame God for His “injustice,” or we could glorify Him (which is what He wants us to do in the first place)! This certainly doesn’t take away our responsibility to make the right choices! God will use our choices to glorify Himself. Start making those choices for God today by remembering, God is the potter and we are the clay!
