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.”
The disciples asked Jesus, “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?”
This was the common thought in those days when someone had a physical
impairment. The foolishness of this thought was that they asked if this
man was born blind because he sinned. How could someone sin before they
were even born? To help the disciples see this from His perspective He
said, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”
The will of God for this man certainly seemed to be an unpleasant
plan. This man had endured the criticism his whole life of people
assuming that his blindness was the result of his or his parent’s sin.
Every where he went he most likely heard the whispering of foolish
people who thought he couldn't hear what they were saying; but, what may
have been an unpleasant plan was a good plan because he became the
personal example for Jesus to heal. How many people could say that Jesus
touched their eyes and healed them? How many people could see their
story written in the Scriptures? What may have seemed unpleasant on the
surface was truly the goodness of God in this man’s life.
Everyone will at some point find God’s unpleasant plan for their
life. How they treat God’s unpleasant plan will determine whether they
become bitter or are used by God. I don't know what God’s unpleasant
plan for your life may be, but it can be good if you will choose to look
at it through the eyes of God.
If God’s unpleasant plan is going to become good in your life, you
are going to have to accept it as God’s will for your life. As long as
you fight it and complain about it, it will never become the tool used
by God in your life to see the miraculous. It is time you stop
complaining about what God has placed in your life and accept it.
Second, you are strong enough to handle God’s unpleasant plan for
your life. I often tell young people who grow up in a split home that
apparently God thought they were stronger than those who grow up in
homes where both parents are present because he placed them in that
split home. You may not be strong enough to endure what I face, but you
are strong enough to carry what you face. There are things in your life
that God knew I could not handle, so He didn't put them in my life. God
places in our lives what He knows we can handle; therefore, every
unpleasant thing in your life is a tool God can use if you will accept
it as His will.
Third, use God’s unpleasant plan to help others and it will become
good. The key to turning it from God’s unpleasant plan to something good
is your use of it to help others. Someone else is going through what
you carry, and you can use it to be a help to them. God’s unpleasant
plan for your life is your connection to hundreds of people who carry
the same burden. What are you going to do with God’s plan for your life?
Let me encourage you to not complain and gripe about it, but turn it
into good by using it to connect with others to show them the glorious
Gospel of Jesus Christ. When you do this, that is when God’s unpleasant
plan becomes good.