Whom will He use?

“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind. His followers asked him, ‘Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be born blind – his own or his parents’ sin?’
Jesus answered, ‘It is not this man’s sin or his parents’ sin that made him be blind. This man was born blind so that God’s power could be shown in him.
…he spit on the ground a made some mud with it and put the mud on the man’s eyes. Then he told the man, ‘Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.’ So the man went, washed, and came back seeing.”
John 9: 3, 6 & 7

We all want to put blame somewhere when there is tragedy in someone’s life. Whether it be injury, death, infirmity or poverty. It seems impossible to us that these things could have come about only to give glory to God. Surely, someone must be at fault. Surely sin has taken its toll.

But here Jesus says that not only was the infirmity not born of sin, but it was designed to give glory to the Father. How shocked his followers must have been to hear those words. Our human minds cannot comprehend that God’s plans supersede any reasoning we may have about a given situation.

Then, to top it off, Jesus makes mud with his own spit and uses it to bring about healing for this blind man. Why, mud? Why not just speak the word and call it good? There may be several explanations for this, but I would like to suggest that perhaps Jesus wanted us to see that even the lowliest of tools could be used to accomplish God’s will. Formed from the dirt to make the healing balm, the mud - when given power by Jesus, worked the miracle everyone needed to see. God received the glory, and the people were taught a valuable lesson.

Let us not sell ourselves short. If Jesus can use the dirt to touch lives, He can use us and our talents. The goal is to give God glory, and we can be the tool He may use to do it. It doesn’t matter who or what is to blame for the infirmity. It needs to be fixed, and God will use us to fix it – if we let Him.

Jesus, use me to accomplish your will. Help me to see where I might be formed into a healing balm for my brothers and sisters.