Lenten Daily Devotional - Day 16 - 3/2/13

Devotional Scripture:  John 9:13-41

Devotional Thought:

"He answered, I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?  do you want to become his disciples, too?" - John 9:27

"The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." - John 9:30-34

At different times in my life, both my mom and my wife have sometimes looked at me and said something like this . . .

"You have a ton of book sense, but not much common sense." (a loose translation . . . FYI).

I think we see something similar happening in this story.

The religious leaders see something that is beyond their "book sense" understanding.  What they "know" and "understand" as truth cannot provide an asnwer for what has happened to the man whose sight has been restored by Jesus.

It's obvious to the blind man what happened, and it's pretty obvious to us as we read the text.  Jesus restored the man's sight!

I find it absolutely fascinating . . . that the religious leaders would say that what had happened was bad . . . because they couldn't explain (and therefore accept) that it was good.

Pardon me . . . restored sight is bad??   Really?? 

Having a 2nd chance at life is bad??  Really??

I can imagine that a few folks reading this may be squirming a bit . . . for aren't many of us guilty of coming to certain conclusions about others . . . because what happened didn't fit our understanding of the way things are supposed to be, or how things are supposed to happen?

I appreciate study as much as anybody.  I read at least 20 books a year.  But as I grow older, I am learning that faith sometimes involves simple common sense.  I used this phrase a few days ago, "letting go and letting God." 

On our journey to make straight the path for the arrival of Easter . . .  that may be what we have to do sometimes . . . let God be God in our lives . . . doing so is a good thing.  And like the man whose sight was restored . . . we get to pray to God, "Lord, I believe!"

God's grace still amazes me . . . ><>