The Answer to All Questions

GETTING STARTED

Admittedly, I am a questioner, doubter, and skeptic. In fact, my mother still likes to remind me that my incessant “why” questioning as a child nearly drove her mad. I know this to be true, as I can clearly remember my exasperated mother saying, “Child, if you were in heaven right now you’d even drive Jesus crazy!” Many inquisitive years past childhood, as a college student, my questions became more concerted, profuse, and directly addressed (as evidenced by three poster boards attached to my apartment wall with the no-nonsense title, “Questions For God”). Later on, as a young seminarian on the hunt for answers to lingering theological questions, I landed in a class studying a conversation that blew my question-asking gaskets. In response to his disciples’ sincere inquiry, Jesus’ straightforward words provided the answer to all my “why” questions. Now, whenever I am confounded by circumstances, struggling to comprehend suffering, or questioning God’s methodology, I often return to this passage of Scripture.

READ THE WORD: John 9:1-3(ESV)

^9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ² And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

RESPOND TO GOD

The belief within Jewish culture was prevalent: suffering was a direct result of someone’s sin. As products of this Jewish train of thought, the disciples asked an honest question. Who did what? I love how Jesus not only dispelled an incorrect presumption regarding sin and suffering, but also redirected the disciples. Instead of indicating a sinful scapegoat, Jesus established God the Father as both the whom and the what. This particular man’s suffering was permitted by God, and for his glory and his purpose… not to be the fodder for questioning or pinning blame.

For those of us who struggle to make sense of what goes on in this sin-wrecked world, those longing to understand the ways and work of God, Jesus’ words bring solace. When I feel my desire for understanding and answers eclipsing my need to trust God and what he is doing, I return to these verses. They are my reminder that God will reveal himself and bring healing in the time and manner he so chooses. I may never know the “why” behind it all and, honestly, once I’m convinced that the circumstances of my life—or of any life—are for the manifesting of his glory and his work, the “why” simply ceases to matter as much.