MAKING LEMONADE OUT OF LEMONS
Psalm 119:71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.
To say this verse in all sincerity it takes a very mature Christian or a very new one. I really don’t know of anyone that likes problems, sorrows, tragedies and the like at least when they were going through them. As a rule when people go through these things there response is just the opposite. They become angry with God and sometimes they don’t even believe in God. I think that often they are so devastated by their situation that they want to blame someone just to vent their anger. Often they will accuse God of having done it, or at the very least allowed it. Sometimes this is quickly forgotten, but for some it becomes much harder to forgive God even though he had nothing to do with it. This is when people will often harden their heart against God.
In John 9:1-3 it says, 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?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
How would you have responded to this if you were the man that had been blind all those years? How would you have responded if you were his parents? How do think the blind man responded when Jesus healed him and he could see? How do you think the parents responded when their son who was blind from birth could see at last? There is certainly a lot to think about regarding this event isn’t there? Was God unfair to allow or even cause the man to be born blind and live those many years without sight just so Jesus could heal him? Is God unfair to allow anyone to be sick or have tragedy in their life when he could prevent it? Why does God even allow freedom in creation? God could have made creation without any options where no one or anything would ever get sick, have problems or die? What would have been the results of this? What would it be like if you and everything were like a rock? A rock never worries, never gets sick, never hurts or even dies? If you had the chance to be like that man that was born blind would you choose to never have been born blind, or to be like him being born blind but being able to say the son of God healed me and I could see?
The other day I saw a video of a little boy that was about one and a half years old. It had been born with a severe eye handicap and could not even see what his mother looked like. The video shows this little child with new glasses being able to see his mother for the first time. At first when she put his glasses on him he just kind of stared, then as his mother began to talk to him his face lit up and the most wonderful and sweet smile came over his face as he realized that what he was seeing for the first time was the one that love him the most. If you have not seen this I urge you google it and see it for yourself. It made me think of what it must have been like for this man born blind when Jesus gave him his sight. Do you suppose he got angry at Jesus for allowing him to be born blind in the first place, or had the biggest smile on his face too? Sadness, disappointment, loss and certainly death are not easy to deal with for anyone. As I said before even for those that love God dearly sometimes have a difficult time handling life's difficulties. One of these cases is with two ladies that loved Jesus very much, yet questioned his loyalty and love for them when he allowed their brother to die. This was of course Mary and Martha. They were both devastated that Jesus didn’t come right away when their brother Lazarus was sick. When Jesus did arrive Lazarus had been dead for four days. Martha went right away to see Jesus and when she got there she confronted him about not coming right away to save Lazarus. Mary on the other hand who loved him the most, didn’t want to go at all until Jesus asked for her. When he explained that he was the resurrection and the life, they responded that their brother would rise from the dead but at the end of time. Once again Jesus reminded them that he is the resurrection and the life and he who believes even though he dies will live. With that Jesus brought Lazarus back to life. How do you think Mary, Martha and Lazarus felt about this whole matter?
Do you think that they were upset at Jesus for making them go through the death process only to have him come back to life? Do you think that if they had the chance they would have done it all the same way letting Lazarus die, so Jesus could raise him?
When our daughter Mary Natha was about three years old I got her and our son Joshua a couple of baby ducks to raise for Easter. One day while Mary and I were playing with the ducks she accidently broke one of it’s necks. Of course the little duck immediately died. It’s poor little neck was bent at a ninety degree angle and was motionless. At first Mary didn’t understand what had happened, so I explained to her that her duck had died. Mary just said as if naturally or a matter of fact, “Well all we have to do us pray.” She took hold of the ducks head with one hand and the body of the duck with the other and asked Jesus to heal her ducks neck and bring it back to life. Then she took the ducks head and pulled it and its neck straight, and the duck immediately quacked and came back to life.
Mary acted like it was no surprise for her. She thanked Jesus, and started playing with the duck again. What do you think Mary would say if she would have it done the same way, or never to have seen the ducks broken and felt the sorrow of the moment? While she wouldn’t the duck to go through the pain again, I am sure that seeing Jesus bring back her duck to life was a life changing experience. If it hadn’t been I doubt that she would have brought this up on her own after twenty-seven years do you?
God never delights to see us have the sorrows and tribulations in this life, but he also knows that we don’t have to go through them alone if we just ask him for help like Mary Natha did. Corrie Ten Boom once said that life is like a beautiful quilt turned inside out. All we see is thread knotted,frayed material, material that has the unattractive side showing. This is how we see our life with all the sins, regrets, sorrows. But when you turn the quilt over to the finished side you see our life as God sees it. For everyone that trusts in Jesus, God has a way of taking trajadity and making something beautiful.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for always making something beautiful out of our lives. Please help us to always trust you no matter what may come our way, whether we see it as good or bad. We love you Heavenly Father, and we ask this in Jesus’ name.
