Job 38-40 | Acts 16:1-21

“As He went along, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” John 9:1-2

From the opening verse of this devotion, could we imagine what life would have been like if we were the man born blind? To begin, the man was nameless, he was identified by his affliction, “a man blind from birth,” labeled by something that he had no control over. The disciples probably noticed him because he was out there begging for money as it would have been difficult for someone with his affliction to maintain life otherwise. Yet, what was worse than how this man was identified, the narrative surrounding this man’s life had taken on a spiritual dimension as well. We see this in the disciples’ question to Jesus: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). In other words, who’s fault was it that caused this man to be born blind—his parents? Himself? While it was already difficult to move through life without being able to see, this man also had to carry the stigma as to why he was the way he was. Now, how did people get this idea about him?

In the Old Testament, just before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, God, through Moses, re-established His covenant with Israel. In Deuteronomy 28, Moses wrote, “If you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all His commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you….The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark” (Deuteronomy 28:15, 28-29). The idea that either the blind man or his parents had sinned which caused the man to be born blind stemmed from an Old Testament form of “karma” belief where bad things happened to bad people because God was paying the person back for the sins in their own life or their family.

If we are honest, the disciples’ thinking could creep into our own lives too. We could allow what others say define us or even our own self-perception determine who we are. We may feel like we are disqualified from a life of peace with God because we believe God does not want anything to do with us due to the way we are and the sin that others ascribe to us—we have made our affliction our identity. But the powerful truth is our affliction does not need to be our identity. In fact, we are all created to reflect the image and the glory of God and the good news is that Jesus gives us a new identity in Him.

PRAYER

Dear Jesus, thank You for the truth that my afflictions do not define me. With my new identity found in You, help me to reflect Your glory in this world. Praise You!