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Introduction: Why Do Bad Things Happen?

I am almost 43 years old, and I’ve served in pastoral ministry for a little over 15 years now. I was also a college professor at a Christian school, a missions training school, and worked in parachurch ministry. So altogether, about 20 years of Christian ministry over the course of my life. Throughout my experience in Christian ministry, the number one question I have been asked in my life is, Why do bad things happen? Why does God allow so many bad things?

There’s not even a close second. This is the number one question I’ve been asked over and over and over again throughout my life. I think it’s a fair question. I get why people would ask this question. When we examine the world in which we live, when we examine all of the pain and brokenness of this world, I get why people ask those types of questions.

Think about, on a global scale, the things that we face regularly, things like wars and famines and diseases, pandemics, natural disasters, corrupt leadership, toxic politicians, civil unrest, mass shootings like we saw this week in New Orleans. Then you think about the individual things that I’ve observed in people’s lives. I know several people who have experienced the loss of a child, loss of a loved one, the unexpected loss of a parent, infertility, miscarriages, betrayal in marriage, and the pain of divorce.

I know people wrestling with various health issues or mental health issues, or financial woes. We all face a lot of stuff. We all face trials and bad things. If you have ever asked yourself, God, why me? You are not abnormal. You’re not unique. Lots of us have asked those types of questions. Sometimes, when bad things happen in our lives, the reason seems obvious.

We’ve got enough information or enough data that we can figure it out and put it together. But that’s the minority report. In most situations, we don’t understand. Most of the time, when things come our way, we don’t fully understand, or we understand maybe partially, and it breeds confusion. So if you’ve experienced that, you are not alone. Many of us have felt those, experienced those emotions.

This morning, I want to lean into just one reason why God allows suffering. There are actually multiple reasons. As we look throughout the New Testament, we see at least six distinct reasons why God will usher us into moments and seasons of pain and suffering, when God will allow those things. I can find at least six different reasons. God willing, over the next few weeks, we plan to look at several of those reasons.

But today I want to lean into just one of those reasons. So, you know, in a few weeks we’ll look at some other reasons. But today I want to particularly focus on how God uses suffering in our lives to shine his glory to other people. Sometimes God will allow us to experience pain for the betterment of others. Sometimes the pain you experience it ain’t even for you. It’s not even for your good or your benefit. It’s actually for the good and benefit of someone who knows you, who’s watching you.

Several passages of scripture allude to this and teach us this. But in my opinion, the best, my favorite passage of scripture that shows us this is John chapter 9. John chapter 9 is immensely helpful to us in helping us understand and see how God uses pain and suffering in our lives to demonstrate his glory through us to other people. So let’s pray one more time and ask God’s help. We’ll look at John chapter 9 together.

Father in heaven, you are so kind. You are merciful and gracious and slow to anger. Thank you.
Thank you for being kind to us. Thank you for the Gospel of John. This book, this rich book that gives us so many great insights into the life and teaching of Jesus. May we be encouraged by your word today. May you use your word, oh God, to shape us, to make us more like Christ. God, I pray that if there’s anyone in this room who does not know you, I pray that today they would see you. I ask that today would be the day of salvation for them. I ask all these things in the powerful, matchless name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

The Man Blind From Birth

If you have your Bibles, you can turn to John, chapter 9, verse 1. Speaking of Jesus:

“And he passed by and he saw a man blind from birth. And as his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents?”

So Jesus and his disciples are traveling. They’re in Jerusalem and they pass by a young man who is blind. Now, we don’t know for sure how old this blind man is. Later in the text, some clues would tell us that he’s at least 13 or older. But there are some additional clues later that would lead us to believe he’s a little bit older than that. I speculate that he’s probably a college-age type of student in our era. He’s probably about 20 years old.

So he’s been blind since birth. He’s been blind for probably 20 years or more, his entire life. In the ancient world, people were not kind. Generally, if you had an ailment, you were seen as being at fault. Today, if someone were born blind, we don’t hold that against them. We don’t think they’re a bad person. But that’s a very modern view. Throughout a whole chunk of human history, if you were born with an ailment, you were seen as a drain on society.

You’re disgusting. You deserve to be embarrassed. It’s shameful. You would be ostracized in a lot of ways. So all the days of his life, all this young man has known is a life of shame and probably loneliness. The disciples walk by with Jesus, and in their minds, there’s only one of two reasons why this guy was born blind. They only have two categories. So they asked Jesus Which one is it? Is it because his parents sinned, or is it because of his own sin?

Is it because his parents did something, so God is punishing them by giving them this disgraceful, blind boy? Or is it that God foresaw in the future how sinful this man would be, and God proactively punished him by having him be born blind? Which one is it, Jesus? Of course, Jesus is like, there’s a third option. It’s more than just those two. Look at verse three. Jesus says this:

“It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

This is an unbelievable statement. The reason why he was born blind was so that God’s power would be shown through him. He’s implying he was born blind so that this moment that’s about to happen would happen. He was born blind and suffered so that I would heal him. In front of all of you. A good thing’s about to happen. Jesus is about to intervene in a miraculous, gracious way.

But before this good thing could happen, there were 20 years of suffering leading up to this moment. How many times did that young man go to bed thinking, Why God? Why me? Jesus is saying, I’m about to give you the answer. Jesus looks at his disciples and says, This man was suffering because there’s a great moment about to happen. The reason he was born blind was so that I would heal him in this moment in Jerusalem, and it would cause a stir in the entire city of Jerusalem.

Remember, not long before this, Jesus fed the 5,000. They didn’t count women and children, so the crowd is probably actually 20,000. So Jesus feeds probably 20,000 people or more with five loaves of bread and two fish. There are baskets of food left over. We see this a few chapters before John chapter 9. This is the moment where Jesus really kind of comes on the scene in a public fashion. The feeding of the 5,000. Before that, he was slowly becoming a little more famous.

But the feeding of the 5,000 is where Jesus comes on the scene in a significant way. His reputation starts to spread throughout Judea. Now, the feeding of the 5,000 happened in a region about 80 miles west of Jerusalem, where Jesus sees this blind man. 80 miles in the ancient world might as well be hundreds of miles in some ways because people didn’t travel. So 80 miles is a long distance away. Most people in Jerusalem had never actually interacted with Jesus. They didn’t know what he looked like.

But they’re hearing rumors that there’s this rabbi from Galilee, redneck town. There’s this guy from the backwoods of Nazareth who’s healing people. Some people are considering that maybe he’s the Messiah, the long-promised Messiah that we’ve been waiting for for hundreds and hundreds of years. The rumors start to spread, and so Jesus goes to Jerusalem. This moment here in John 9 is one of the first major public signs that Jesus does in Jerusalem.

So lots of people have heard of him, but this is the first time they’re experiencing firsthand what Jesus is all about. This is Jesus’ coming-out party in Jerusalem in some ways. It is through the healing of this young boy. Up to this point, most of the ministry that Jesus did was in smaller towns. He was in places like Galilee. But now he’s at the center of Jewish culture. He’s in Jerusalem. He’s in Manhattan at Times Square. He’s not out in Mineola. He’s on, I drive right in the center of all that’s happening.

This is the moment where Jesus publicly introduces himself to the Jerusalem region. It is through the healing of this young man. It’s a remarkable thing to consider that this young man gets to be a part of introducing Jesus effectively to the world. It’s after this healing that the influence and ministry of Jesus expands greatly throughout Jerusalem. His ministry starts to expand rapidly and eventually puts him in the crosshairs of the Jewish leadership.

This is a significant moment in the ministry of Jesus. It’s a big deal, and this young man gets to be a part of it. A billion years from now in heaven, we’re going to be looking back and he’s going to be saying, I got to be a part of that. You remember when Jesus came out to the world and showed the world who he really was? That was me. I was in on that one. But before that moment, there were 20 years of suffering.

 

Jesus Heals The Blind Man

What if God has allowed you to experience difficulty in your life because he’s got a John 9 moment for you in the future? What if God has ushered you into some difficult, painful moment because he one day will intervene and demonstrate his power through you to others? So Jesus heals this young man, and you can imagine what a moment this would have been for this guy. I mean, 20 years, he’s never seen anything. Everything is new. The color of the trees, the way people’s faces look. He’s never seen anything.

What a remarkable moment this would have been for him. Up until this point in his entire adult life, he’s been an impoverished beggar. How many times does this guy go to bed hungry at night? How many times did he go to bed feeling embarrassed, ostracized, abandoned, alone? That all ends right now. This is a monumental moment in this young man’s life. It’s a moment that causes a stir in the entire city of Jerusalem. This is what we see through verses 8 through 12. We see these interactions between this young man and people in the city. They’re asking him all these different questions. Verses 8-12, there’s the interaction between the young man and the people in the city. They’re asking him questions, How’d this happen? Who did this? And he’s just like, I don’t know.

Later in verse 13, we see that eventually the stir in the city is so prominent that the Jewish leadership brings this man in to interrogate him. He comes before the council of the Pharisees. The Pharisees are the religious scholars of the day, and they have tremendous political clout and political leadership in the region. They bring him before the council, and they’re interrogating him. What happened? How’d this happen? Who was he? How did he do it? They’re being quite antagonistic.

It’s quite hostile at this moment toward him, and he doesn’t have good answers for them. But we see in verse 16, this division happens. Some of the Pharisees are actually sort of intrigued. They’re impressed by this. We’ve heard rumors about this guy named Jesus, and now we’re finally seeing the work of Jesus. Maybe there’s something to this Jesus guy. But most of the Pharisees think he is insane. He’s demon-possessed. He’s a sinner. We don’t want him getting any credit. We don’t want anyone following this guy.

So they’re antagonizing this young man, and he doesn’t give them good answers. Eventually, they even bring his parents in. They start interrogating his parents. His parents are saying, we don’t know either. He’s of age. Ask him. Eventually, they bring the man back for a second interrogation. They’re peppering him with all these questions. What about this? Tell us. This is how he answers. Look at verse 25:

“Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, I was blind, now I see.”

They’re asking him all these questions, bombarding him, accusing him. He’s like, I don’t know much about Jesus. You seem to know more about him. Later in the text, he’s like, maybe y’all want to be his disciples. Listen, I don’t know anything about this guy named Jesus. Here’s what I know. I was blind and now I see. I lived a life ostracized, abandoned, lonely, begging, hungry, and shameful. He changed all of that. I was blind and now I see.

 

Sharing Our Faith

I think this is a Great model for us in evangelism. Sometimes we’re having conversations with people who don’t believe, and they’ll pepper us with questions that we don’t have answers to. Most of us don’t have answers to a lot of the questions. We have a family member or a friend. They’ll ask you, well, what about evolution? I don’t know. What about the ancient religions that have these myths that look like the Bible? How do you know the Bible is trustworthy?

Or how about the nephilim? How about this? They throw all these questions at you, and you don’t know the answers. What ends up happening is that so many Christians get paralyzed by that. They feel like they don’t know the answers to all these questions. So they get paralyzed in their evangelism. Therefore, many Christians are like, I can’t share my faith. Until I have all the answers to all the questions, until I’ve studied every religion. I gotta study Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses and Islam and Buddhism. Until I’m an expert on every topic everywhere, I can’t share the gospel.

I think there are a lot of Christians who feel that way. I want to alleviate that pressure from you this morning. This young man gives us a great model to follow. When people pepper you with questions you don’t know, it’s perfectly appropriate for you to say, I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that question. Here’s what I do know. I was blind and now I see. I can’t answer all the questions about biblical text and higher criticisms or evolution or this or that. Here’s what I know. I was blind and now I see. That’s a great way to do evangelism.

 

Suffering Before The Healing

Jesus heals this young man. His ministry begins to expand. His influence begins to expand significantly. This event seems to loom large in the background of lots of conversations going forward. We see this event alluded to multiple times later in the Gospel of John, and the next time it’s alluded to is in John chapter 10. There’s this moment where the Pharisees are arguing about who Jesus is. Some of them are like, he’s demon possessed. He’s insane. He’s a sinner. He’s blasphemous.

Then others are not sure; they think about how he healed that blind guy. They are thinking demons don’t usually do that. This event looms large in the background of the conversation when people are talking about Jesus. There’s a whole group of Pharisees in Jerusalem who, later, after the resurrection, all became Christians. There’s significant evidence in the first century that a bunch of Pharisees all became Christians down the road. The ones who were most antagonistic to Jesus, a bunch of them got saved down the road.

There’s no doubt that this event loomed large in their minds. It was a part of their thought process. This event was monumental in the ministry of Jesus, expanding throughout the region and reaching many people. The works of God were displayed through this young man, to many, praise God. But before this amazing event ever happened, before Jesus proved himself to many, a young boy was suffering in pain, embarrassed.

Two decades of suffering, two decades of blindness. Two decades of being questioned, was it your sin or your parents’ sin? Years of begging and hunger and struggling and living in poverty. How many times was he spat upon or yelled at or kicked out of a public place? How many times did he go to bed cold and alone? We all want the special moment. We all want the moment when the power of God comes and uses me. Be the instrument to bring the glory of God to people. But we forget that moment is almost always preceded by years of suffering, extended pain.

In fact, we see this in the life of the apostle Paul. Over and over again, Paul alludes to this. In Romans, chapter 8, Paul alludes to this multiple times. Paul seems to understand there’s a correlation between how much ministry he can do and how much suffering he experiences. There’s a connection between them.

In Acts, chapter 9, when Paul has this dramatic conversion experience, he sees Jesus. He’s blinded, he’s knocked off his horse. His men led him into the town of Damascus, and there was a man named Ananias there. God says to Ananias in Acts, chapter 9, Ananias, go to Paul, I’m going to use you to heal him. God says to Ananias, I will show Paul how much he must suffer. I’m going to use him to do mighty things, but before that, he’s gonna have to suffer a whole lot. There’s a correlation there. It’s an incredible privilege to be a part of the story of God, but it often is preceded by pain.

So here’s the takeaway. Whenever you experience difficulty and you’re tempted to ask, Why God? When you ask that question, instead, ask the question, For whom God? For whom am I suffering? Then pray for those people. I try to make it a regular habit in my life where I’m driving down the road or I’m by myself, and I think about some painful, frustrating situation, and I think to myself, God, this has got to be for someone. This is because you’re going to demonstrate your work through me to that person.

I don’t know who that person is. I don’t know the name. But I pray for whoever that is in the future that you bless them. I pray for whoever they are, wherever they are in this moment. Maybe they aren’t even born yet. But I believe wholeheartedly that every moment of pain and suffering, God will use as he sees fit. He will demonstrate his glory to others who are watching. So instead of asking, Why God? Ask, For whom God? I promise you that it will bring you great comfort.

 

It Is Well With My Soul

This morning, we rearranged the liturgy because I wanted to have an extended time of singing on the back end as a response. During Communion, we’re going to play a song called Firm Foundation. Then, after Communion, we’ll stand and we’ll sing two songs together. One of them is a song called ‘It Is Well’. Many of you are certainly familiar with it, one of the most famous hymns in American history.

It also has some extra meaning when you understand the story behind the song. ‘It Is Well’ was written in the 1870s by a man named Horatio Spafford. Spafford was a very successful attorney and real estate developer in Chicago in the mid-1800s. Very wealthy, owned lots of property in Chicago. In 1871, the great Chicago fire destroyed most of the city, ravaged the town, and destroyed most of the property that Spafford owned.

He had some people who owed him money. He owned debt, and people owed him money. A lot of the property that the money he had loaned out for was the collateral was also destroyed in the fires. So all of his assets were gone. Within two years after the fire, Spafford, who had been one of the wealthiest men in America, was pretty close to bankruptcy in 1873.

Spafford was a Christian and was friends with the famous evangelist D.L. Moody in Chicago.
D.L. Moody, one of the most famous, greatest evangelists in all of American history in the Chicagoland area. D.L. Moody had been planning to go to England to do some evangelistic campaigns, sometimes called preaching crusades, which were these big evangelistic events. Spafford was one of the biggest funders of Moody’s ministry, and he had planned to go with Moody to England.

So toward the end, after this happened, he told Moody, I’ll still go with you. He was able to scrape together some money to still help the ministry of D.L. Moody. Pretty significant, a man near bankruptcy, still being committed to doing this. So right before they left, Spafford and a crew of Moody’s associates and Spafford’s wife and four daughters were all going to travel to England together by ship. Right before the trip, just before they left, there was a business situation that Spafford had to stay behind and deal with.

So he said, I’ll stay behind. You all go. We’ve already paid for the passageway. So Spafford’s wife and four daughters, and a bunch of their friends, board a ship, and they go to England. Spafford says, I’ll be right behind you, just within a few weeks. Well, as that ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean, it struck another ship and sank very quickly, killing 226 people on board, including all four of Spafford’s daughters. His wife was one of the few survivors from the wreck.

A few weeks later, as Spafford traveled to England and they passed the region, the area of the ocean where the ship had sunk a few weeks earlier, it was there, aboard the ship, thinking about his four daughters who had died, he penned these words.

“When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, you have taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”

Whether peace comes to me like a river, my life is peaceful. Or if sorrows come at me like sea billows. If sorrows come at me like crashing waves, over and over and over again, regardless of which one comes my way, God, you have taught me that whatever comes my way, to say it is well, it is well with my soul.

What an unbelievable statement. God, whatever you got for me, whatever you determine to allow in my life, I’m good with it. Bring it on, because I trust you. Whatever you determine, I’m good with that. It is well with my soul. I want us this morning when we sing that later, make that your prayer. Make that a declaration to God this morning. That whatever he determines to bring your way, that you’ll be good with it, that you will trust him, that it is well with your soul. May that be the cry of our hearts.

 

Conclusion: Obedience When It Doesn’t Make Sense

Last observation from John, chapter 9. I skipped over the particulars of the healing intentionally. I wanted to come back to it. Jesus heals this young man in John, chapter 9, verses 6 and 7. Having said these things, Jesus did a little mini-teaching, he says:

“Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, ‘Go wash in the pool of Siloam’, (which means sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.”

Did you catch what Jesus said here? Jesus sees a blind man. He gets down, he hawks a loogie in the dirt, and he mixes. This is what happened. He mixes it around, and he scoops up the mud he just made from spit and dirt, and he puts it on the guy’s eyes. It’s a little strange. Sometimes we read the Bible, we go through it quickly. It’s okay to pause and be like, what is that, Jesus? Like, Jesus could have healed him. Jesus could have just gone, boom, you’re done. It’s healed. Jesus could have just said the word. Why this whole spit and mud nonsense?

If you’re not confused by this, I don’t know what you’re reading. This should be confusing to you at first glance. Why are you doing this, Jesus? Then Jesus says, I want you to go down to the pool of Siloam. I want you to walk a few miles. This blind man with spit and dirt all over his face. Walk down to the lake a few miles and then go wash your face off, and then come back. Why this whole process?

It’s okay, by the way, when you read the Bible, to see these things and ask the question, What’s going on here? I studied this week quite a bit. There have been hundreds, not exaggerated, hundreds of commentaries and Bible scholars, and pastors over the last 2000 years who have given their opinion on this text. And you know what? You get hundreds of different opinions on this text. There’s no consensus.

Usually, when there’s disagreement amongst Bible scholars, there’s one interpretation that most people whom I trust hold to. This one makes the most sense. There’s one or two that you can point to. But with this text, I can’t find one interpretation that makes sense to me. There are all sorts of speculations. That the dirt is the material, and the spit is the power of God. So God uses natural means, like doctors, and he infuses his power to heal.

So there are lots of people, and they are trying to give you an explanation for the text. I appreciate that genuinely. However, you know what became obvious to me as I studied this text this week? No one really knows. I think that’s the point. I think it’s not supposed to make sense. There are moments where God does things that don’t make sense to us at all, and he still expects us to obey. He tells this young man, I’m gonna put a bunch of spit and dirt on your eyes. I want you to walk down to the lake, go and wash your face.

That made no sense to anyone observing. It doesn’t make any sense to us today. You know what you should do in those moments? In the moments where God commands you to do something that doesn’t make sense to you, you know what you ought to do? Obey. There’s a major sentiment in North American culture, and I think it’s seeped into our churches, where we demand things make sense to us before we obey.

This is a very big problem in American culture. God will say things in his word to us, and we will respond. Well, I don’t fully understand it, so I’m not going to do it until I thoroughly understand why. I’m not going to listen to that. This particular doctrine that the Bible teaches doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not totally logical to me. Therefore, I’m going to reject it and refuse to embrace it until I understand what God is saying.

Friends, that is an unacceptable response from the Christian. Church, there are moments where you’re not going to understand things. Obey him anyway. We have this thing in American culture where it’s like, unless I get it, I’m not going to say yes. Can you imagine if the boy had responded that way? What if Jesus takes the spit, the dirt, makes the mud, puts it on his eyes, says, go down there, and the boy says to him, Jesus, this is really kind of silly. Do I really have to go all the way down and get in the water? Really, it’s miles away. I’m blind. Do I really have to do that? Seriously, Jesus, just heal me. Why did I go through this whole face-washing process?

Or what if the young man had said, Jesus, I’ve heard good things about you, but I want to understand how the saliva and the dirt work before I go wash. Can you explain the science to me first? Can you imagine if he had said that? He would have missed out on being a part of this incredible moment. He would not have gotten healed. He would have died an impoverished beggar, and we would never know anything about him.

Listen, Jesus still would have gotten famous. Jesus would have found someone else to heal and would have shown his glory through that person. Jesus would have still gotten his message out, but that young man would have missed out on being a part of the story. It didn’t make sense, but the young man still obeyed, and that led to the healing.

I want people to understand the Bible better. I want you to understand the things that God says. I want things to make sense to you as a pastor. Part of my job is to help you understand the Bible better. I want you to get it. I want you to understand doctrines. I want you to wrestle with things and learn. However, there will come a moment when you don’t understand the thing, and what God expects is for you to do it anyway.

Church, there are going to come moments where things don’t make sense. If you say, No, I’m not going to listen to what God has to say, you will miss out on the glory that God has in you and through you. I implore you, if Jesus has commanded it, obey. Even if you don’t think it’s necessary, even if it doesn’t make sense to you. Trust him, obey him, and watch him display his glory through you in ways that are far grander than you could ever imagine. Would you pray with me?

God, we thank you for John, chapter nine. We thank you for this word. We thank you for this passage that shouts to us the glory of God. For those of us who have asked the question, Why God? I pray now we would ask, For Whom? That we would know that there is a reason and a purpose and a person or persons, and you will use our pain to show yourself to them. We don’t know when or how, but we trust that you will do it. Our pain is never in vain.

We take great comfort in that this morning, God, I pray that we would learn from this text and be inspired by it. We would be inspired to obey you more. And, God, we would be inspired to love you more. That we would see the goodness of God on display here, and it would cause us to love you more. And now, God, in a moment, as we sing, may we make it our declaration that whatever you bring our way, whatever you see fit to allow us to experience, may we declare with confidence. With humble confidence. It is well. May that be true for all of us. I pray in Christ’s name. Amen.