The Two Views Of Pain

John 9:1-3
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.

Have you come across this kind of conversation? What will be your opinion?

The disciples decided to focus on the hurt and sin instead of seeing the picture of God working through it. We can do the same thing.

Do you remember any time lately when you failed to see God working in your situation? What thoughts did you struggle with?

Why did God allow this to happen in my life? Why is there evil in the world? Would a loving God allow so many starving children to die? We have all thought something similar to one of these questions.

In God's wisdom, he has decided to not divulge too much of where evil comes from or its origin (Deuteronomy 29:29).

This mystery can consume many of us to the core of our being and we may never forgive God for an event we feel he is to blame for and we focus on the unfinished part of the picture and forget to see the other side, which is finished & perfect.

But, we do know that all things work together for the good of those that love God (Romans 8:28).

Instead of focusing on the "disease", we should be focusing on the cure that is Jesus. Jesus told his disciples that they were looking for the wrong thing. We should stop looking for something to blame and start looking for God to praise. They were blinded by the problem of pain, instead of seeing God's glory displayed. They could have easily missed out on the works of God.

Think about that for a minute. Have you been focusing so much on the problem of pain in your life or of those around you that you are missing the glory of God being displayed? Realizing that God can bring good out of our hard times is what allows us as Christians to make it through those times. Joseph is the perfect example of this as he is sold by his brothers, becomes a slave, is put in jail, and eventually the right hand man of the king (Genesis 50:20). Jesus took the greatest sin of all, death of an innocent man, and turned it into the greatest work of God's glory to be displayed.

Application:
- How are you viewing the pain around you today?
- Pray that God can show his might in your situation.