March 21: Light, Life, Love: A Journey Through the Gospel of John – John 9

1. Purpose Within Difficulty, John 9
2. No one gets a free pass from difficulty. So the question is will we be the kind of people who will find purpose within difficulty, or will we become jaded, bitter, and unmovable within the circumstances of life?
3. Read John 9:1-34
4. Quick Recap of Events
1. Miracle  & no celebration
2. Pharisees  – this work doesn’t fit our way of following God.
3. Insistence that God is at work. ‘I was blind, now I see.’
5. Pharisees Problem:  They are not recognizing the way in which God is at work.
6. When in difficulty, pray this prayer:  
1. Jesus, in what way are you at work? Help me to see. I need you.
2. Jesus, how do you want to change me and use me in light of this difficulty? Make me flexible. Use me.
7. Read John 9:35-41
8. How the healed man refers to Jesus
1. Vs. 11 – the man they call Jesus
2. Vs. 17 – prophet
3. Vs. 33 – from God
4. Vs. 38 – Lord
9. Read Romans 5:1-5
10. 'If we had known that the condition might be repeated, we would not have risked it (and not have had our daughter) … having said that, if I were told 'we can just wipe out that experience (of having a second handicapped child) I wouldn’t. It absolutely blows my mind, the impact that a blind, retarded, nonverbal, nonambulatory person has had on people. He has a way of opening and touching people that we can't come near. That's part of our survival story, our marveling at how he has moved so many people.
11. “This book’s conundrum is that most of the families described here have ended up grateful for experiences they would have done anything to avoid.”  – Andrew Solomon, Far From The Tree
12. Suffering is not an interruption of a life story but as a crucial part of a good life. – Tim Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
13. No one gets a free pass from difficulty. So the question is will we be the kind of people who will find purpose within difficulty, or will we become jaded, bitter, and unmovable within the circumstances of life?
14. Read 1 Peter 4:12-13