Why did Lexi have to struggle so?

This question plagued me for many years and sometimes still does. It doesn’t seem fair. First, to be struck with a disease at the age of two that forced her to do blood checks and take shots every time she ate. Then, in her teen years, the onset of mental health struggles. In efforts to cope, she turned to substances. We soon discovered she had a brain that was wired to quickly become trapped in addiction. None of these are things she would have chosen or wished for. Her siblings weren’t faced with these issues. She was fun-loving, creative, and had a heart to help people.  Why did these diseases have to keep her from living a full and happy life? 

Why do physical ailments happen to some people and not to others? Why do tragic and painful things happen in this world?

Jesus’s disciples had these same questions. When they saw a man who had been blind from birth, they wanted to know why. They knew Jesus had answers, so they asked him. “Who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” They thought suffering could be caused by sin, that there might be someone to blame, some reason behind this terrible affliction. 

But Jesus cleared that up right away. “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents.” He explained that the man’s blindness happened “that the works of God might be displayed in him.” He then proceeded to heal the man both physically and spiritually.

What a marvelous truth Jesus reveals through this incident. There don’t have to be explanations behind terrible circumstances. God is working in everything. And God can display glory in the midst of seeming tragedy.

Did the blind man understand the impact of his healing, that his story would be written down for people to learn from for thousands of years? Likely, no. Do we always see and understand how God is working out his purpose through the events in our lives? Definitely, no. We are not given the grand master plan. But we are told to trust the One who made it, and who loves us more than we can imagine.  Whether we understand or not, the truth still remains – God is working in every situation, and His glory will be displayed 

When Jesus’s followers saw him being crucified, I imagine they struggled with wondering why. Why hadn’t Jesus restored His kingdom on earth? Why had he been convicted when he hadn’t done anything wrong? If He was truly God, why did he not stop these evil men from nailing Him to a cross? To see him die must have felt devastating – a shocking abrupt ending to all their hopes and dreams. Why??? 

But what to them seemed like the absolute worst thing that possibly could have happened was actually the most amazing act of love in the history of mankind. An act that would provide salvation and eternal life for all who believe.

This week, as we reflect on the death of our Savior, we can be thankful that we know the reason behind it. We can be thankful that God was glorified through His Son’s suffering. We can be thankful to be the beneficiaries of His wonderful works. 

We can also be thankful for the things we don’t understand: things incomprehensible and confusing and unfathomably hard…knowing that through everything that happens to us and our loved ones, He is working and His glory will be displayed. 

“In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”

Ephesians 1:11