NT Fire Starters – Day 140: John 9:1-41

READ: John 9:1-41

THINK: “How can a loving God allow suffering and evil to continue?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Where is God when tragedy strikes?” These questions represent people’s struggle to reconcile the idea of an allloving, all-powerful God with all the bad things they see going on around them. But questions like these also show a misunderstanding of what’s normal and what’s exceptional in the world. Because humankind has rebelled against God and chosen their own way over His, sin and evil have taken hold and turned the world upside down and backward from the way God created it. Disorder and destruction have become the norm. The fact that good exists at all–and can even come out of suffering–is proof of God’s love and patience toward a world that continues to defy Him.

RESPOND: Why do you think that Jesus’ disciples suspected that someone’s sin had caused the man’s blindness (v. 2)? Can an individual’s sin ever lead to illness and tragedy? Explain. (See 9:3 note.) Judging from this passage, why does God sometimes allow suffering? Why doesn’t God always make His purposes apparent to us at first? How can God be honored in people’s lives through difficulty and suffering? How can people actually benefit spiritually through these kinds of trials? How and why do people often insult and reject those whom Jesus has set free (cf. vv. 27-29)? What was the leaders’ attitude toward others and toward themselves (v. 34)? In what way was it a blessing for the man to be thrown out of the synagogue? (See 9:34 note.) How is this a lesson to those in lifeless churches and unbiblical religions? What did Jesus mean when He said that He came “so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind”? (See 9:39 note.) What does this have to do with people’s attitudes toward God and toward themselves?

PRAY: Thank Jesus for taking you through difficulties in ways that honor Him and bring you closer to God. Thank Him for the privilege of enduring insults and opposition that come as a result of your faith and His work in your life.

ACT: Read the article on The Suffering of the Righteous, p. 638, to gain Biblical insight into why God allows suffering in the world. Encourage a couple individuals today who are going through very difficult times. Pray for these individuals on the spot if you feel they are open to that.