If an accident, tragedy, or illness occurs, does it mean God is punishing me for something?

John 9:3“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”

The people in Jesus’ day, like many today, assumed that there must always be a sin behind anyone’s suffering. This is only true in the sense that the possibility of suffering and our capacity for suffering are rooted in original sin. While God does allow us to suffer consequences for our sins, he is more accurately understood as the redeemer of our suffering, not the cause. Suffering can take us toward God or away from him. If suffering takes us toward God, it is always redemptive.