Why?

 Why?

After I graduated from college in Saskatchewan I came back to Ontario in a U-haul moving van with my brother in law and my nephew. The rest of their family was travelling in the car I think.  Some details elude me but what is really clear is that  over and over and over and over again as we travelled along my 3-yr old nephew asked the question “Why?” 

The first few times you try to come up with an answer but then there comes a point where ….. you just want that little word to go away and never return.

Well, that’s the word behind this story that involves Jesus and an encounter with a blind man.

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind. His disciples asked him, “Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind? Was it his own or his parents' sin?” Jesus answered, “His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents' sins. He is blind so that God's power might be seen at work in him.”

John 9:1-3

What is Jesus’ response to the “Why” question from his followers, “He is blind so that God's power might be seen at work in him.”

If you are not facing a “Why is that happening?” set of circumstances personally right now, you soon will.  We all do.  What if, in each of those moments, when we really do want to know why, we would simply remind ourselves, “This is happening in my life so that God’s power might be seen at work.”

It is not my desire today to minimize the hard time anyone might be experiencing at this point in their life. But I do find it comforting, and I offer the same comfort to you, that when life is puzzling and challenging, if we will trust ourselves to the Lord Jesus, then I believe we will experience that same truth the blind man did, that God’s power will be seen to be at work in us and in our difficulties.

Heavenly Father, we don’t always have an explanation for why things are the way they are, and in this life I think that’s going to be the case more often than we wish.  We won’t know certain things until we see You in heaven and get the complete picture.

But in the “why” moments of this day and this season of our lives, please help us to ask You to be with us, to touch us, to bring Your power to us and to our circumstances, and to get glory from our lives while You do.  What that looks like, we leave up to You, trusting that You are good and You are good to us.  Amen

For me, right alongside all the “why’s”  that are definitely there in my life, are the lyrics of a song about God that I love, “All my life You have been faithful.  All my life You have been so so good.  With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.” 

Let’s live there today shall we – trusting God’s good heart towards us and allowing God’s power to be seen in how things unfold.

Hmmmm.  Maybe or maybe not share this:

BTW, that 3 year old grew up doing just what we are talking about today and I’m very proud of the family he’s raised and the work that he does and how he loves and served God in it all.