Devotional Reading: John 9: 1-17. Morning Psalm 119: 73-80; Evening Psalm 121

Text: His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Once again we have the wrong question before us. In His response Jesus told his disciples that no one sinned, neither the man before birth, nor his parents. He was simply born blind. Period. But his blindness was not the end of the story.

So often we want to know “why”, especially when it comes to disease and disaster.  We want to know what they did or what I did to deserve what terrible thing is happening at the moment. Why did this happen to him or her or me?! And answers evade us.

In high school I read Thorton Wilder’s book, The Bridge Over San Luis Rey. It is the story of the collapse of a Peruvian rope bridge that killed several people. A Roman Catholic friar looked for a reason why each one of the victims had to die that day on that bridge. His research left him empty-handed. The novel left a sixteen year old student, me, empty-handed, too. Yet it had the air of unvarnished truth.

There is much in life that we will never understand. Easy answers and blame lack creditability, especially as we grow older and hopefully wiser. Jesus told his disciples that from the man’s blindness God’s glory would be revealed.

In reading the story of the man born blind I was reminded of something that the apostle Paul wrote, We know in everything God works for good… (Romans 8:28). The verse is tricky and is translated in several different ways but the point of Paul’s insight is that God can bring something good out of any situation. God can use even the broken pieces of our lives to do something good. Tragedy, hardship, disappointment, loss and even death cannot and will not have the last word. That word, the last word, belongs to God.

Lord, take even the broken threads of our lives and efforts and weave them into the beautiful tapestry of Your Kingdom. Amen.