God’s glory and purposes are often hidden in the storms of our lives. It’s there… look for it!

“Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame.

There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.”

John 9:2,3 MSG 

We love ‘cause and effect’ answers to our questions. There are always people and ideas to blame when our lives are disheveled and out of sync. We’d sorely love to lay the blame on someone.

So as Jesus approached a blind man in John 9, the disciples quietly ask him who was responsible for his blindness… “was it him or his parents?” they probed. “You’re asking the wrong question” was his response from the Message Translation.

Indeed, we often ask the wrong question.

There are a mountain of confusing and frustrating things going on right now. We’d love to be able to assign blame, know who our finger should be pointed at… at whom our voices should be raised.

Unanswered prayers become the launch pad for our hurting search for an answer big enough to settle our hearts and give us courage to keep going. Yet the real issue is simply this: what God does and what He allows are always for his glory!

In this case, Jesus spits into some dirt and puts this unique poultice on the man’s eyes and tells him to rinse off the mud in the pool of Siloam. The blind man does so and is instantly healed. End of story.

But is it?

• Can we trust our God enough to find his glory in some of our, as yet, unanswered petitions?
• Can we trust while waiting to see how our current afflictions fit perfectly into the entire scope of God’s plans and how they will affect others around us?
• Can we navigate the muddy waters of life and quiet our hurting, anxious and fearful hearts enough to trust God until his glory is revealed to us? His promises to us are bullet proof, eternally nailed down and ready for the claiming!

These are important questions to consider when there’s enough ‘bad stuff’ going on in our world to assign blame to many. Yet… that could be where God’s glory is hiding.

Be on the lookout for any evidence you see of his glory, presence and purpose at work around you. If you refuse to do this, you’ll end up like some of the people in the Pool of Siloam who missed the hand of God and were incensed that someone got mud in their pool!