God's Sovereign Purpose in Disability

The following is the first message I started sharing this past week during outreach homevisits on what the Bible has to say about Disability. I am very excited to start to share what God has been teaching me over the past 6-8 months with the families I work with. God has been burdening me the past few months my need to share. I have really been praying about when would be the right time to share. This past Tuesday when I woke up I really felt God telling me to start today during homevisits. I spent a few hours in prayer & studying John 9. My prayer was that my families would find Hope & Encouragement as we dug into the TRUTH of God’s word together. The following is the first message I plan to share (and I did share with 3 families last Tuesday).

 

One of the reasons I believe the Bible and love the Bible so much is because it deals with the hardest issues in life. It does not sweep painful…complex…confusing…controversial …shocking things under the rug.

 

I believe one of the hardest things in life is the suffering of children and the suffering of those who love them especially when early suffering turns into living a life of profound loss.

 

Disability is expensive…financially, emotionally and relationally.

 

John 9:1-12- Story of Healing of Blind Man from Birth

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 works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

I want to Specifically focus on verses 1-4

 

Vs. 1- “As he went along he saw a man blind from birth.”

·         Jesus Saw…this is where the story starts. The disciples did not see but Jesus saw. He did not just see but he had compassion…he acted. This verse is a reminder to me that we have an attentive, merciful savior.

 

Vs 2- “His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind?”

·         The disciples ask the question…they want an explanation for the cause. BUT Jesus does not answer their question for the cause but instead answers with the purpose. Jesus points out that there is a difference between cause and the purpose.

 

Vs. 3- “’Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’”

·         Important Point: The point Jesus is making is NOT that suffering did not come into the world because of sin because the Bible is very clear it did BUT specific sins in the world are usually not the cause of specific suffering in the world. Jesus wanted them to know that the explanation of blindness & other disabilies lies not in past but in future purposes. There is a purpose in it…There is a divine design…There’s a plan. God means for his work to be displayed

·         Scripture is very clear that God knows ALL Things and if God sees & permits a conception that causes blindness (in this case) or disability, he has reasons for this permission and those reasons are his purposes…His designs…His plan. There  are no accidents in God’s mind or hands

·         There is no child and no suffering out of God’s purpose

·         God says that the purpose of the blindess is to put the work of God on display. This means that for our suffering to have ultimate meaning, God must be supremely valuable to us…More valuable than health and life. Many things make no sense until God becomes our supreme value.

·         The truth is that suffering can only have ultimate meaning in relation to God.

·         Scripture is clear that it is for God’s glory both healing and non-healing.

o       John 9- For Jesus blindness from birth is sufficiently explained by saying God intends to display some of his glory through blindness and in this case it happens to be healing and it was to the glory of God’s power to heal.

o       2 Corinthians- Paul cried out 3x for his thorn (disability) in his flesh to be taken and healed. God’s response was…

§         “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

§         God response was I will put my power on display not by healing you but sustaining you.

o       HEALING displays the works of God in John 9…SUSTAINING GRACE displays the work on God in 2 Corinthians 12. The common denominator between the 2 is the SUPREME VALUE OF THE GLORY OF GOD.

 

Vs. 4- “As long as it is day,  we must the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work.”

·         Jesus Ministry went from a healing ministry to a dying ministry.

·         Jesus had a limited time to do his healings on earth because nights was coming and his day work of relieving suffering would turn to the night work of suffering himself.

·         If we ask the same question as the disciples asked in this passage…Why?...Who Sinned? The answer is certainly NOT Jesus…but we did. That was the cause of Jesus suffering BUT that is not the decisive explanation…The decisive explanation is Jesus is suffering that the works of God His father might be displayed in Him. The works of wrath-bearing, curse-removing, guilt-lifting, righteousness providing, death-defeating, life-giving and in the end suffering-removing…TOTALLY REMOVING!

·         “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4

·         And over every sorrow & every disability and every loss embraced in faith for the glory of God will be written in blood.

·         “For our light & momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

 

My Prayer is that God would give us eyes to see that the display of God’s work in his son’s suffering and our suffering and our children’s suffering are all expressions of his love.

I based this Bible study off of "Disability and the Sovereign goodness of God booklet:
Here is a link to the PDF online: https://dwynrhh6bluza.cloudfront.net/website_uploads/documents/e-books/pdfs/disability-and-the-sovereign-goodness-of-god-1388566676.pdf