23 May It is What It Is (Discovering the true character of God…because He is not a car-wrecking, cancer causing Creator, but a loving, life giving Lord!) part 37

“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

Over the years these verses have been very misunderstood.  Here it is clear the disciples asked a question and got a very concise answer.  It was neither the blind man nor his parents that caused the condition.  Of course, nowhere does it say that God caused the condition!  This man’s condition was a result of Adam’s sin, resulting in a cursed world.

I always find it fascinating how quick we are as people to assign blame.  We particularly like to assign blame based on what we perceive to be someone’s sin.  In Acts 28 you find Paul surviving a shipwreck.  He and others from the ship find themselves washed up on an island called Miletus.  To get warm, Paul retrieved some wood only to find a snake lodged in this pile of sticks.  The snake latched onto Paul biting him.  The men surrounding him immediately assumed he must be an awful sinner based on what just happened to him.  

Paul shook the snake into the fire and the men looked for him to swell up and die.  After a little while when Paul had no ill-effect from the poisonous snake bite…they just quickly changed their mode and assumed he must be some great man of God!  (That’s why you should never let the “crowd” define you as they will frequently change their opinion of you.)

Join us next week as we learn more about how we – Don’t assign the blame…get into the game (John 9:1-4) – from our 11 Characteristics Concerning the Character of God. 

as we continue our series…