Saturday Reading: John 9:8-12
Key Verse: John 9:11
11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.
Devotion:
This is one of my favourite miracles that Jesus did – not because He made a blind man to see, but because of the way that He did it. Jesus knew of the consequences of things before He did things; He knew of what had to be done, what could be done and what could not be done and yet He continued to show His mercy and make it possible for people all round Him to be able to see the gospel as well as to see everything around them!
When the disciples asked Jesus about the sins of the man and what sins he had done in order to lose his sight, He answered them quite plainly saying that neither this man nor his parents had cause his blindness through any sin they had done... stuff happens... but God makes sure that whatever does happen is allowed to happen in order for Him to get the glory. When things go wrong around us we try to figure out what we have done wrong that could cause the problems – that is just the way we think because we like to apportion blame. But there are going to be times in our lives when things just happen that we cannot explain. Those are the times when we need to draw on the grace and mercy that God is willing to give us so that we can continue on in His will.
Jesus wanted the healing of this man’s eyes to reach as many people as possible so that they could be encouraged to find the truth themselves. He did not heal the man immediately and allow him to follow him round like the disciples were doing; instead he healed the man by getting him to go to where other people were gathered. After he was healed, he would talk to lots of people and tell them of the miracle without being caught up in following Jesus around! Sometimes Jesus just wants us to be somewhere else so we can reach someone else... but always knowing that He is in control and that He is the one looking after us continually.
Points to Ponder:
Do you always want to be in the right place for Jesus?
Are you listening to where He wants you to be rather than where you want to be?
