Even this is for a reason?

Being blind for a long long time…In John 9 Jesus heals a blind man.  His disciples asked if this man or his parents had sinned and that is why he was blind.  Jesus said neither.  It was only Adam’s original sin that would allow God to use the frailty and falleness of man to display His glory.  The man’s parents must have been crushed by his lack of sight.  Yes, he was a boy, which was a good thing in those days, but blindness would cause him to be a beggar, not worthy of the time invested in normal children who would be productive and eventually inherent and even cause the family name to go on.  No, from the beginning I can imagine that there was deep heartache in the parents of this boy.  The hours of weeping, the hurts of broken dreams, and this was just for the parents.  Once you begin to look at the life without site, in a hard world lacking any luxuries, you might begin to realize what this life of pitch black was.  You look nice today, what a pretty…, these are all lost phrases on this man.  Since the beginning, he has been utterly dependent on others.  Something, unless the rest of us, he has never grown out of.  Jesus shows up and finally give reason to the pain, agony and heartache, the utter uselessness of this man’s life.  John 9:3 says “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.�  Not one of us can say that we have had a completely useless life.  This is most definitely true for this man.  A man who lived to adulthood in obscurity and shame, shunned by many in society and a burden, God chooses to use. 

Our foster daughter may often feel like this man throughout her life.  Why didn’t my mom and dad love me?  Why did I get passed around?  Does anyone really love me?  Am I that messed up that people don’t want me?  To her and to me, to each of us, the years of heartache, being lost, dying on the inside, physical pain, are for a reason… that the work of God might be displayed in our lives. There will come a day when we are finally able to see.  That promise is from God and is recorded by Paul in 1 Cor 13:12, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.â€?   Today, I say let us endure.  Whatever may come, let us hold tight to the truth that one day we will understand fully.  For now, I pray for you and for me that we would have the ability to trust and rest in the arms of the one who made us as we are for a reason.