Mercies

John 9
James 5:13-20
Exodus 15:22-27

She was aglow with the look of carrying new life. Her belly growing month by month as she prayed diligently for the little one squirming within her; her love for her unborn growing faster than even her babe inside. Finally, the long-awaited day came. Her water broke, the hours passed with low moans and contractions gradually intensifying until, drenched in sweat, the mama’s scream ended with a newborn’s lusty cry.

Tiny hands grasping at the air, little wails quickly calmed by mama’s comforting breast.
New Life!
As mama rested with her newborn son, taking in every detail, touching every toe, caressing every silky thread of hair, it didn’t take long for the trained eyes of a midwife to notice the little boys’ eyes.

Pupils that didn’t dilate.
Eyes that could not see.
Blind.
Mama’s baby boy was blind.
How she shook with the realization, tears of agony replacing tears of joy!
He would never see her smile or the beauty of a sunrise.

More, he would be rejected by society. With no means of earning income, he was destined to live off the generosity of others. To everyone but the grieving mama who held him close, pleading with God for healing mercies, his life was meaningless.

Fast forward several decades to one, seemingly random Sabbath.
That baby, now grown into a man, having lived a life of rejection and shame, sat by the roadside, begging for pity.

Walking along that very road, came Jesus and His disciples. Curious questions rolled around the disciples’ heads constantly as they followed the Master, and out tumbled the words as they nodded in the direction of “the man”,
“Rabbi? Who sinned? This man, or his parents, as he was born blind?” (John 9:1)

The man’s heart seemed to stand still as he heard the pointed words. Had he not lived through enough shame that now Jesus Himself would bring him lower still?

Jesus, having already been present as God almighty when this man was a baby being knit together in his mama’s womb, knew exactly why this precious one had been born blind.
It wasn’t for shame.
It wasn’t to mock his mother.
It wasn’t for sin committed.

“Neither”, came Jesus’ words full of authority and tender mercy. Jesus, now bent down in front of the man, looking into eyes that had never seen light, spoke over him with perfectly timed words of freedom, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3)

Jesus healed the man that day.
His parents were impacted. The religious elite were impacted. His entire village was impacted. And this man, once blind, was now rescued for eternity because he had encountered the Light of God.

Does God want to heal everyone?
YES!

He loves each one of us and aches with every illness, minor scrape, disability, and terminal diagnosis. The timing, however, for that healing, is His alone.

Here’s the question we aren’t asking…
What is more urgent and pressing because the time is fleeting,
physical healing or spiritual healing?
Hands down, Spiritual.

We are currently dead, every single human being who has never decided to trust Jesus fully for their salvation is already dead. Not critically injured, not on life-support, not living with a terminal illness….DEAD.

One day, when we cross from this earth to the next, all who believe in Jesus will be fully healed physically, mentally, and spiritually. Every physical ailment from a crooked nose to brain cancer to Autism and Alzheimer’s disease, will be 100% made whole while every sinful inclination of the heart will be forever destroyed.

For now, in the waiting until then, the Lord, who grieves with us in our pain, will graciously use even our broken bodies to declare His glory and goodness to a world dead in their sins, mercifully calling them from death to life!

The little boy whose story was recorded in Scripture, who had lived his entire life in darkness, was made whole so God’s glory would be SEEN by a people who were spiritually blind. No sorrow had been wasted, but it was used for a purpose beyond him. FAR beyond him! Even today, you read his story!

And isn’t that our greatest desire?
That what we do here on earth actually matters?
That our everyday actions are meaningful?
Wouldn’t it be incredible if even our grievous sorrow was used for eternal purposes?!
Only in the hands of a merciful, healing, sovereign God, they are!

Here’s another reality, every person Jesus healed while He lived on earth, still died.
Their healing was temporary.

But He died the death we deserved on the cross to free us for eternity from the chains of every sickness, especially the sickness of Sin and Death.

Are we invited to pray for healing in this life?
Absolutely!
The Lord will use healing to declare His victory.

But, in every single instance, the Lord will either heal or not heal, for a purpose beyond ourselves. We can be confident of this!

While we wait for full healing, struggling with loss and grief and illness and sin, we have every confidence that the With Us God has not, nor never will, leave us to grieve on our own.

For His Glory!
Praise Him for His Healing!

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