The Works of God

What work is God doing in the middle of suffering and hardship? Is all suffering due to sin, or is God doing a greater work? What are the works of God? How can we be open to, and participate in, the works of God in the middle of suffering and hardship?

In the gospel of John, chapter nine, Jesus’ disciples inquired about a man who was born blind and the cause of his blindness. They attributed the man’s predicament to his sin or to his parent’s sin. The disciples assumed God was judging this man with blindness because he or his parents had offended God with some kind of grievous sin and that God had made him blind.

The gospel of John tells us, “As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:1-5, ESV).

Sometimes suffering and hardship happen because God is doing a work in us, and because God is doing a work in those around us. We must be open to God and we must be open to the works of God in the middle of suffering and hardship, recognizing God is always at work around us.

We are also do the works God is calling us to do—like the works Jesus and his disciples were doing in the time of Jesus. There will come a time when the opportunity to do the work will end—“night is coming, when no one can work.” Therefore, “we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.”

May we see suffering and hardship in our lives, and in the world, as opportunity for God to do his will and work, and as an opportunity for us to join God in his work in the world, even in the face of suffering and hardship, recognizing God is always at work.

A Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent: “Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

A Prayer for Mission: “O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

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