Suffering always begs the question, “why?” We ask ourselves, ask God; maybe even ask others. Suffering is rarely done in silence or shrouded in secrecy. Even if we’re able to keep the specifics to ourselves, it’s difficult to hide pain, distress, depression, or other physical and emotional signs that speak of the turmoil brewing just beneath the surface. It seems no matter how we try to hold it together, we’re always cognizant of our anguish; and you can be sure there is at least ONE someone who is aware also. The moment others become aware, we can also be fairly certain we’ll be asked “why”. Maybe not “why”; but undoubtedly “how”? How did you get here? How did this happen? Daunting…
When we’re hurting, we have an inherent need to know who or what’s “responsible” for our state or condition. I remember a scene in my all-time favorite Christmas season movie “A Christmas Story”. The main character, “childhood Ralphie”, narrated by the “grown-up Ralphie”, tells a story of getting in trouble for using a bad word. He recalls lying in his bed crying after getting his mouth washed out with soap. He literally fantasized of becoming blind and destitute, and coming back to his parents’ home to blame his lowly state of “the blind beggar” on them for giving him soap poisoning. (That’ll fix them!) 🙂 But it speaks to our need to identify the object of our pain so we can lay blame; we believe it will make us feel better somehow. It also further begs the question, why do we feel the need to ask others “why” or “how” they came to their state of suffering or hardship. I began to think about it and realized I do it, too; instinctively… I’d like to think it’s because it helps us connect, understand, empathize, or share in their pain somehow. But after considering a specific situation I struggled with recently, the Holy Spirit challenged that explanation: “Why do you need to know ‘how’ or ‘why’ in order to care about someone’s suffering?”
These moments of contemplation came as I wallowed in self-pity, shame, anger and disgust with myself, and a whole barrage of negative emotions over something I was dealing with. The Lord asked me, “Who sinned?”… I’m thinking “not now, Lord, I feel bad enough, I don’t need anything else to consider”. But every time my mind would fall on my situation, He would repeat this question in my hearing. Once I yielded my mind to Him, I realized He wasn’t asking me, He was reminding me of a passage of scripture in the Gospel of John. The passage is as follows in the New King James Version:
Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1-2)
People want to know. I have often wanted to know. No doubt, this man wanted to know “what did I do to deserve this? What did I do wrong? I can’t think of anything I could’ve done from the womb… Maybe it was my parents.” I pondered the disciples’ secret inquest; “My Lord, they really felt the need to pick this man’s life apart and find out ‘whodunnit’.” We fear suffering; we do everything we can to hedge against it, and when it happens (because something is bound to happen) we do everything under the sun to figure out how to get out of it… I propose that while we may want to sympathize with others, we inquire because want to know either 1); how to get out of “that”, or 2); how to avoid “that”. So much so, that if someone is born disadvantaged, we study their dysfunction until we find an answer. We’re just like those disciples; but we’re evolved. We want to know: “what by their DNA are they predisposed to?”, or “what did (s)he do with all that money?” 🙂 We examine people on talk shows and reality shows in a bubble as we discuss their dilemmas daily… But the Holy Spirit pointed out to me Jesus’s response to His disciples’ questions, and it has revolutionized my perspective on suffering beyond measure.
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” (John 9:3 NKJV)
The Holy Spirit stirred my heart, “Don’t you love how Jesus shifted to focus off of the source of suffering onto the purpose of suffering?” Yes, Lord… Yes I do. There’s no doubt the parents and the man had a sin-nature, and over time developed sin consciousness, and probably had committed sin, maybe even MANY sins, for “all have sinned”(Romans 3:23), and “there’s none righteous, not one” (Romans 3:10). And while through one man’s sin (Adam), all sin, suffering, and death entered the world, Jesus didn’t assign this man’s current state to sin. The Good News Translation of John 9:3 says it this way:
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.”
This is a powerful revelation of Grace and Truth to every believer, for God has fulfilled His wrath against the sins of man through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When we face difficulties, sicknesses, when we fall or fail, or when we suffer, God is not punishing us for sin. The reason I believe the Holy Spirit wants you and me to stop asking “who sinned”, is because it shifts our focus from the finished works of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, to the destroyed works of our accuser, Satan. Christ purchased our freedom from punishment and we are now in right-standing with our Father. He promised us in Isaiah 32:17; the effect of righteousness [which we now have through Jesus Christ] will be peace, and the result of righteousness is quietness and trust [a new relationship with God, our Father] forever…
Consider This: God allows NOTHING to come upon our lives that He can’t use to bring glory to Him, or through which He cannot demonstrate His Love and Grace. In fact, there is NOTHING that Our God cannot work for our good and His glory. We belong to Him, and He wants to make us living epistles, a love letter written to the world through us; we are always, and are always becoming, living, breathing testimonies. Are there things we find along our journey in Christ that we can do differently? Better? YES. But even the knowledge and will to do better is a demonstration of the power of God working His goodness in us. So I am asking God daily to change my perspective from the lies of the accuser, to the truth of my Redeemer. According to Romans 10:11 anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Grasp and perceive this truth: every trial in every believer’s life is an opportunity to see God work; not relegate blame and shame…
ErikaMDixon 