It's Not About Me - Max Lucado [25]
GOD is sheer mercy and grace;
not easily angered, he’s rich in love.
He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold,
nor hold grudges forever.
He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve,
nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.
As high as heaven is over the earth,
so strong is his love to those who fear him.
(Psalm 103:8-11 MSG)
Don’t blame suffering in the world on the anger of God. He’s not mad; he didn’t mess up. Follow our troubles to their headwaters, and you won’t find an angry or befuddled God. But you will find a sovereign God.
Your pain has a purpose. Your problems, struggles, heartaches, and hassles cooperate toward one end—the glory of God. “Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory” (Psalm 50:15 NLT).
Not an easy assignment to swallow. Not for you. Not for me. Not for the blind man on the side of the road. When Jesus and his followers passed him, the disciples had a question.
As He [Jesus] passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1-3)
YOUR PAIN HAS A
PURPOSE. YOUR PROBLEMS,
STRUGGLES, HEARTACHES,
AND HASSLES COOPERATE
TOWARD ONE END—
THE GLORY OF GOD.
Born blind. A lifetime of darkness. Never saw a mother smile or a sunset fade. Who did this? the disciples wondered, anxious to blame someone. Such a bad plight can be traced back to a bad deed. Right?
Wrong, Jesus replied. Don’t search the family tree. Don’t request a copy of the man’s rap sheet. Blame this blindness on a call from God. Why was the man sightless? So “the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Odds are, he would have preferred another role in the human drama. Compared to others, his assignment held little glamour.
“Mary, be a mother to my son.”
“Peter, you’ll be my first preacher.”
“Matthew, the first gospel? It’s all yours.”
Then God turns to this man,“And you?”
“Yes, Lord?”
“You’ll be blind for my glory.”
“I’ll be blind?”
“Yes.”
“For your glory?”
“Yes.”
“But I don’t understand.”
“You’ll see.”
The blind man wasn’t the only candidate for a complaint. Consider the case of Martha and Mary. Personal friends of Jesus. Confidantes. He stayed at their house and ate at their table. And when their brother, Lazarus, became ill, the sisters blitzed a message to Jesus. If the Nazarene would heal anyone, it would be Lazarus.
Wrong again. “But when Jesus heard this, He said, ‘This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it’” (John 11:4).
Feverish, clammy, knocking on the door of death—why? Because he ate the wrong food? Didn’t guard his health? Drank too much? None of these. He was sick for the sake of God. Call it the assignment of sickness. How else do you explain the puzzle of the next two verses?
“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was” (John 11:5-6).
Talk about a left turn.You’d expect the verse to read:“Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus . . . so he made a fast dash to their house to heal Lazarus.” Just the opposite occurred. Because Jesus loved the trio, he lingered until Lazarus died.
Blindness displays the works of Christ? Death glorifies the power of Christ? How can this be?
I’m looking around my office for an answer. A frame displays my favorite picture of Denalyn. A metal stand displays an antique pot. My brother gave me a stained-glass window from a country church. It is displayed by virtue of two wires and two hooks. Picture frames and metal stands, wires and hooks—different tools,