God sees everything I’m going through and will sort it all out for my ultimate good Ceilon Aspensen, March 18, 2024March 17, 2024 The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is God sees everything I’m going through and will sort it all out for my ultimate good. My primary takeaway from each of the passages was this: Deuteronomy 1 & 2: Moses recounts the defeat of the Amorites, the time the Israelites lost faith at Kadesh, the instructions from God at Kadesh, the journey from Kadesh to the Arnon, and the conquest of the kingdom of Sihon. John 9: Jesus heals a man on the sabbath who has been blind since birth. Psalms 77: A meditation on the distress of Israel during their time wandering through the desert. Proverbs 15: “The eyes of Yahweh are everywhere; observing the wicked and the good.” In John 9, Jesus heals yet another person on the sabbath. As we near the end of the gospels, it almost seems as if Jesus only healed people on the sabbath, just to get a rise out of the Pharisees. It seems obvious that he was trying to drive home an important point in doing this. He has already stated that the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That’s his first point. His other point, and perhaps the most important one, is that if one uses the law to prevent them from doing good, then the law is useless. Any day is a good day for doing good and alleviating the suffering of others. There’s another important point in this chapter. The story suggests that in that time people assumed that anyone who suffered from any kind of infirmity from birth had somehow sinned, or was being punished for the sins of his parents, or grandparents, or someone even further back. In the book of Deuteronomy, in the old testament (in a chapter we’ll be reading in just a few days), there is a verse that says “for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (Deuteronomy 5:8-10) However, later in Ezekiel 18, that is all undone: “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.” (Ezekiel 18:20) Apparently, the Pharisees and Jews of Jesus’ time were cherry picking the scriptures for what suited them in the moment. Jesus seems to have chosen to heal this particular man, who had been blind from birth, just to provoke this discussion and make the point that everyone only suffers for their own sins, not the sins of others; and anyone can ask for God’s help and receive it, regardless of their circumstances. Additionally, physical infirmities are not the result of sin. They’re the result of genetics, accidents, illnesses, and injuries. Think of all the people you know who are not good who have perfect health. Think of all the good people you know who are suffering in some way. There’s an entire school of philosophy that deals with “Why bad things happen to good people.” This is one of the reasons why. My husband’s first wife (who died in 1998) was diabetic and had ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). At one church they went to for a long time, the pastor had the audacity to tell her that she must have sinned or she wouldn’t be sick. That was in the present day. There are so-called Christians out in the world right now who tell people that. Apparently, they haven’t read this passage in John 9. Treating people that way, and telling them that their infirmity is the result of sin is at best wrong and misguided, and at worst it is pure evil. That is the kind of thing that Jesus came to put an end to. Psalm 77 is a meditation on Israel’s past, but it could also be a prayer for any time we find ourselves wandering in a spiritual desert and in distress. Proverbs 15 is full of meditations on upright behavior, and wisdom and foolishness. My favorite verse in this chapter is one that helps me when I’m in a situation like the one Jesus was in here in John 9, and I’m witnessing people calling good evil and evil good: “The eyes of Yahweh are everywhere; observing the wicked and the good.” (verse 3) When things seem unfair and I am being treated unjustly, it’s good to remember that God sees everything and he knows what’s really going on. I don’t have to worry about it, because God will sort it all out later. That’s what I got out of it. What did you get out of the readings today? To participate in a discussion about the posts, please join us in our private Facebook group that I set up specifically for sharing what we take-away from the readings each day. If you haven’t gotten the FREE “Read the Bible in a Year” worksheet yet, you can download it here. It is not necessary for you to start on January 1st–you can start from the beginning on whatever date you get the worksheet. Join us! Learn more about why I read the Bible all the way through every year, and feel free to share with anyone you think could benefit. This post is part of the series, “Read the Bible in a Year.” To see other posts in this series, go to the Chronological Index of Read the Bible in a Year Posts. Please follow and like us: Read the Bible in a Year Spiritual Practice changechange for the betterchristianchristianityencounter with Godpositive changeread the biblesacrificespiritual