I can only imagine what it would be like to be blind – to “see” the world through my fingertips and the heightened sensitivities of my other senses, but to never truly see the shapes and colors that define the world around me or never to look into the faces of those I love. Jennifer Rothschild is an accomplished Christian writer, speaker, songwriter, and recording artist – and she is blind. She puts her make-up on each day by counting. (Figure that one out.) She is an inspiration to millions, but the inspiration she gives comes at a cost.
“Blind” and “beggar” in Scripture seem to go together. It was also commonly thought that blindness was a consequence imposed by God because of sin. Jesus’ disciples questioned that possibility when they approached a man who had been blind since birth, wanting to know who had caused the man’s blindness. Jesus’ response informed them that sin was not the reason for the man’s handicap and that God had a purpose in it that would reflect the power and glory of God. As the account transpires, a whole community is impacted. When Jesus heals the blind beggar, every one from his parents to his neighbors to the religious leaders take notice. God is revealed.
Like the disciples, we often have our questions when tragedy or difficulty is part of life. I have heard some respond by asking God to help them be quick learners, to catch whatever lesson it is that God is trying to teach them so they can return to a degree of “normalcy.” But that thinking confuses us when an aging parent lives year after year in a mind or body that has been ravaged by disease, and death would be a welcomed commodity. Or, walk into a newborn intensive care unit in a hospital or a classroom for the intellectually impaired. What are these learning??? The question is without an answer for these have no capacity for learning.
To say that God’s purpose in the difficulties of life is always to teach or shape the life of the one who is in the middle of the muck creates a reasoning that falls apart when we consider either the blind beggar or the incapacitated. For those of us who are capable of learning from God or are capable of being shaped by the experiences of our lives, yes, possibly, God desires to do one or the other, or both. But sometimes God simply wants to reveal Himself to others through or because of the hardships or sorrows of our own lives. God speaks powerfully to others when my own faith is tested, when grace overflows the need, or when my responses are reflective of godly character. Incapacitated lives too can be instruments of God to refine the thinking, the priorities, the motives, or the character of those who surround them. In a very real sense, sometimes God allows me in the middle of the muck to be taught by Him and to learn, and sometimes I become a teacher in God’s hands to reveal Himself and His ways to others.
(Related Bible reading: John 9:1-13)
