Resisting The Why

Resisting the Why

This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. John 9:3

THE DISCIPLES ASKED A VERY COMMON QUESTION. They wanted to know the why behind a blind man’s circumstances. It’s a natural impulse, and sometimes it becomes one of the strongest themes in our prayers. We don’t just want God to fix things; we want to know why they happened to begin with. We want to make sense out of whatever is going on in our lives.

Not many people get an answer to that question, at least not immediately. The disciples didn’t get a full explanation at all. Jesus simply told them that God was going to glorify himself in that man’s life. God is not opposed to our questions, of course, but he has bigger and better ones in mind. Whenever we go through trials and challenges, he doesn’t want us obsessing over the reasons they came or what we did to deserve them. He wants us to turn our attention toward him.

Doing so leads to those bigger and better questions. How do you want to show yourself in this situation, Lord? How are you using this problem to display your character? What side of your nature do you want to reveal here? These questions raise our perspective and invite God to intervene, sometimes in dramatic ways. Virtually every problem we go through has the potential to be a platform for a revelation of God. Our challenges highlight something about his nature—his love, compassion, kindness, wisdom, power, protection, provision, deliverance, healing, and more. Biblically, the most difficult situations were the greatest stages for his glory. Our lives can set the stage for his glory too.

In fact, that’s how we turn our whys into prayers. We don’t need to understand everything that happens in our lives. Some things will remain hidden until the veil is lifted from our natural eyes. But we aren’t called to understand God nearly as much as we are called to trust him. He loves our intellect, but he wants our loyalty more. When we give it—when we get past our inward focus and ask how he wants to reveal himself in our crisis—things begin to change. He meets us there and shows us who he is.

He who perseveres makes every difficulty an advancement and every contest a victory.