What's Up?

As [Jesus] went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” – John 9:1-3

The disciples must have thought that trials and difficulties were a result of sin, or at least that a debilitating disease was. Sadly, many people around the world hold to the same beliefs. Perhaps it is part of our human condition to seek causality when the unexplainable occurs. On the other hand, Jesus taught that His Father sometimes allowed the natural effects of living in a fallen world (illness, disease, infirmity, disaster) in order that His power and purposes might be displayed through healing, restoration, or the grace to endure suffering).

Lord, help us to look more diligently for Your works and purposes in tribulation (both great and small). Instead of asking, "Why us?", may we always ask, "What's up?", because whatever we're in the middle of or going through, we're in it or enduring it for the glory of God.

Right?

You may suffer and yet be un-Christlike, but no person can be Christlike and fail to suffer. If you ever, by the grace of God, become a partaker of the divine nature, you must also inevitably become a partaker of His sufferings. – Clovis G. Chappell