“His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
(John 9:2 NIV)
When I was growing up, the mantra often repeated was: ”be an example” which, as we got older became an often repeated insight: “You will always be an example. Make sure you are a good example and not a bad example!”
It was a very polarised view of life. You are either the one or the other.
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
(John 9:3 NIV)
I never liked this verse in the bible. On the face of it, it makes God look selfish, and self serving, if you don’t spend some time with it, and if you do, you realise that there is an important and fundamentally deep action at play here.
The miracle is maybe not what we think. More than one person got to ”see” that day…
Which was the greater healing. The one man that could see? Or the multitudes whose eyes and understanding was opened that day…?
I have spoken a lot about my friend Michelle, the pastor from Ukraine, that has been a rock of stability for so many people in Ukraine and South Africa. Well, through severe and difficult circumstances, she and her daughter is in Israel at a medical facility. Right at the moment when the bombs started falling and the missiles started flying in, causing havoc and destruction. Again… First Ukraine, and then Israel.
But, my wife and I mused as we finished praying for them, and the other people in the hospital…
Because of Ukraine, and her challenges there, she has developed a rather substantial prayer chain, crossing different groups and churches all over the world.
The fact that she and her daughter was in Israel (a miracle story in itself) at that time meant that hundreds of groups, worldwide, was praying not only for them, but for the hospital, the patients, the engineers keeping the power on, the doctors, the area the hospital is in and the whole of Israel and it’s people.
No matter how you slice it… no matter who you think is at fault in that war. At that point in time, when the WhatsApp message comes through ”Pray Now! The sirens just went off…” what would have been at best, a news event on TV, became a personal, and intense intercession time with God. Not just for a person, but for a place and a people… but Because of the suffering of one.
Which got me thinking… when things seem to implode, and nothing works, and everything goes wrong…
Instead of lamenting why? why? why?… maybe we should climb a tree and change our perspective…? See things from a different angle, and ask God: What are you preparing here?
And maybe more important… what am I supposed to do right now? What is my role? How can I serve this situation?
