...but that the works of God should be made manifest in Him

John 9:3
"Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in Him."

Because we are human, alot of times when bad things happen the first thing we do is blame or question God. What did I do to deserve this? or Why would God do this to me? In verse 3 Jesus told His disciples this blind man had done nothing wrong, his parents had done nothing wrong. But He was made special in God's eyes so that God could do a work in His life that it may be seen as a testimony to others and bring others to know God! God led me to these scriptures this morning. It's by no chance that He wanted me to study this! Last night in our ladies prayer meeting Ms. Dawn read the children's book called "Hermie the common caterpillar" In the book God tries to explain to Hermie that He uses common "people" or in this case a common caterpillar to mold them into what He would have them be. Ms. Dawn then read Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." This man may have been blind but God made him that way so that one day He could use Jesus to heal him so that others(including the blind man) may believe. Sometimes I feel really down on myself. I may feel ugly, fluffy (we never use the word fat haha), too tall, too short, too sick... the list could go on. God made us this way for a reason. But what I have to realize and what everyone should realize is just like God told Hermie in the book God is not through with us yet. All of these things we consider imperfections God considers a foundation for a masterpiece that He will one day use for His glory! Isn't that awesome? I am going to look at my "imperfections" from now on as just things that God will use to show off with. I am perfectly fine with being something God can use to "show off" with for His glory. I didn't intend on my study going along with last night's devotion that's just a God thing. :) I love reading about the miracles God performed. These stories remind me a lot of the time and age we are in. We are so hard headed just as the people were then and God uses all of these stories to explain things to us today. When I was reading this chapter I kinda was wondering if the blind man received Jesus as His Savior. I mean after all he had just seen with his own eyes, literally, that Jesus healed him. If you keep reading on in the chapter the blind man that now sees was trying to explain to the people what happened and who it was that healed him but they weren't believing and even cast him out. Jesus heard about this He went back and found him and asked him (verse 35) "does thou believe on the Son of God?" Jesus witnessed to the blind man and it says in verse 38 he believed and worshipped Him. I believe God was already dealing with his heart when he was trying to share with the people about what happened. Jesus knew exactly when to step in. I also believe God knew when the blind man was formed in his mother's belly that this would take place and would be how the blind man was saved. This isn't the only miracle story where Jesus told someone He made them that way so that He may receive glory. In John 11:4 Jesus said basically the same thing to Lazarus. He knows exactly when to step in to explain things to us too. Give Him time. BE Patient! He is not done with us. It's a pretty amazing feeling to think about it really. God has a plan for us and I'm so excited to see where He will take me and what He will do in my life!