john 9 is this sweet picture of Jesus coming into a man’s suffering instead of running away from it. it starts out with describing that Jesus saw the blind man. a man who had been neglected. a man who had been abandoned. a man who earned a living by begging on the streets for someone, anyone, to give him something to eat. seeing his blindness, Jesus moves towards him. He spits on the ground, makes mud and tells him to go bathe in the pool of siloam. he comes back seeing.
i wish that every ounce of suffering was healed the moment Jesus came on the scene. i wish that the heavy heart wasn’t heavy when i heard His voice. i guess it isn’t heavy for that moment, but the heaviness seems to be back the next. but the truth is that it isn’t the suffering that brings God glory, it is the response to the suffering. what will our hearts and minds do when Jesus in essence says “I am not taking it away or healing you, but I am sufficient and I am sovereign”?
it is easy for me to look at my wrist and say oh yeah…i will hope in Him still. but in the moment when the fit is hitting the shan within the family and i can’t do anything to help it, i have a choice and it isn’t always an easy one. in the moment another awesome guy tells me what an amazing woman i am or that i am muchly respected but they aren’t interested, i have a choice and it isn’t always an easy one. when the letter comes from the mortgage company saying my house is going into foreclosure, i have a choice and it isn’t always an easy one.
it is in those moments i have to remember that the same way Jesus saw the blind man’s pain, He sees my pain. He sees every tear, every unmet desire, every broken heart, every hopeless dream. i have to remember the beauty of it is that He came so that He might redeem all of it. He came so that He could say, I AM SUFFICIENT.
and even when i don’t feel like it…HE IS.
