Focal Passage: Job 11:13-16; 23:8-12; John 9:1-3
Have you ever bought a cheap product from a cheap store, one that required assembling?
When I was in college, I bought a dining room table. I followed all the instructions to the letter, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not get everything to line up.
For many, this is how health and suffering works. When you follow the rules, everything works out. When you don’t, life falls apart. This means of course that if your life is marked by suffering, you must be doing something wrong. Fix the sin, pay your tithe and get back on the straight and narrow and all will be well again.
This was the mentality of the Pharisees in John 9, but Jesus corrects them. The man had been born blind according to God’s sovereign will that His glory might be displayed. You mean the righteous suffer? Yes; the Bible tells me so.
Consider Job who had done nothing wrong, and yet, God allowed great suffering. Even more, consider Christ who was perfectly righteous. Still, He suffered not just the punishment for our sins on the cross but the daily aches and pains, physical and emotional.
There are times when suffering is a result of sin. “The Lord disciplines the one he loves” (Hebrews 12:6). Sometimes, though, suffering is simply the evidence of life in a fallen world. In either case, our suffering is not arbitrary. It serves to display the glory of God. Take heart, believer. It also serves to bring about our good.