John 9.1-3
John 9. 3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in him."
John 11.1-6, 14-16
John 11.4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
A man born blind
A man who was sick and died.
John 11.37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
What do these accounts tell us about the LORD?
1. The LORD is desiring to reveal Himself to us and everyone.
He wants to work in you, in our church.
He wants to bring glory to Himself by making the things of Christ known unto us.
I Peter 1.3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
One of the purposes of His Word is for the LORD to reveal Himself to you.
One of the purposes of the Holy Spirit.
John 14.21
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
John 16.14 He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you.
One of the purposes of suffering.
God makes Himself known.
Dear BrotherHazard, "I came away from the surgery for amputation being closer to God."
One of the purposes of challenges and problems is for Him to reveal Himself to you.
II Chronicles 16.9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.
2. God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform
He sets His footsteps on the sea and rides upon the storm.
Through Blindness and death God has brought songs to hearts and to His Church.
Fanny Crosby wrote the equivalent of 17 books of hymns
"It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me."
If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind...for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Saviour."
Carolina Sandell Berg Day Day
Lina Sandell, the name by which she was known in her country, was nicknamed the "Fanny Crosby of Sweden"; though she did not write near as many hymns as Miss Crosby did, she is said to have been as popular among her people as was the famous American hymnwriter. However she wrote anonymously, always signing her poems simply with "L.S." It was Oskar Ahnfelt who brought her hymns to the public, arranging music to them and singing them (while accompanying himself on guitar) around Scandanavia.
On a trip with her father when she was 26 years of age, as they were crossing a lake in a boat, her father was suddenly thrown overboard and drowned before her eyes. The accident impacted her greatly for the rest of her life. At age 33 she penned the words of "Day By Day", just one of the 650 hymns she wrote in her lifetime before and after the accident; hymns that "mightily influenced the revival that swept across Scandanavia after l850".
The words of Lina Berg's hymns were all the more popular because of the simple, beautiful melodies written for them, especially those of Oscar Ahnfelt who played his guitar and sang her hymns throughout Scandanavia. Lina Berg once said that Ahnfeld sang her songs "into the hearts of the people."
Do you want to see the wonders of God? Open yourself to pain and brokenness.
Look at your brokenness, not as a liability but an asset. Jesus did! God looks at blindness and death and pain as conduits through which He accomplish His purposes and display His work.
Paul the Apostle understood this perspective:
Philippians 1. 12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters,[b] that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard[c] and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
3. God desires to use our points of pain and times of suffering for His Glory.
He can raise the dead and heal the blind but sometimes He has higher plans and purposes.
If He choses not to do a miracle in a family's or person's life He has greater plans.
We must trust Him.
Total trust.
We must wait for Him.
Waiting eagerly, looking, hoping, expecting
We must allow Him to work out His purposes through us.
Her next hymn after Day by Day:
Let Thy Word all divine be my lamp in whose light
I may constantly keep to Thy way;
And each day wouldst Thou cleanse me anew, make me white
In the blood shed for me on that day
The cross Thou didst suffer, Lord Jesus.
Sung at her father's funeral a hymn she wrote earlier:
Children of the heavenly Father
Safely in His bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given.
What He takes or what He gives us
Shows the Father’s love so precious;
We may trust His purpose wholly–
‘Tis His children’s welfare solely.
God is always at work. He is always answering prayer. He has a plan for all of His children. His plan may appear to be thwarted, it may appear there is no reason to continue. How many times do we say like Martha and Mary, "LORD, if You had... then...!" But God is at work, He displays His glory through those very things!
He wants to do so in your life today. Get His perspective. Look at your life like He looks at it. Let Him work His Work through you.
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