That The Works of God Should Be Made Manifest

"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." (John 9:1-3). Our mortal minds can't always comprehend all of the reasons why certain tragedies, maladies or afflictions befall some of us and not others. In the same vein, we can't always comprehend why some receive miracles and others don't. Why was this man born blind, when so many others were given the gift of sight? And then later, why was this man healed and given the gift of sight, when so many others remained unhealed in their blindness? The answer to both of these questions is the same - so that the works of God should be made manifest in him. God does not afflict us solely for our good - or bad, as we may feel it to be. And God does not miraculously lift us out of our burdens solely for our good. Every time that we face a devastating loss and we remain faithful despite our pain and sorrow, then the works of God are manifest in us. Every time we fast and pray and the miracle comes, the works of God are manifest in us. God gives us hard things to bear so that when we come through it, He can hold us up as an example to the believers. He can show the whole world, look, I gave them layoffs and divorces and cancers and earthquakes and miscarriages and famines and fires and floods and they survived and they held onto their covenants and their faith and they came out stronger and purer and better and holier. You can too! And God gives us miracles for the same reason. Look, I healed their blindness, their leprosy, cast out their devils, brought their family back from the dead. I can do the same for you. If we prayed and fasted for our mother or father to be healed, and they were, we should not feel guilty or unworthy of that miracle, because God did not do it just for us. He did it so that His works could become manifest. And if we fasted and prayed for our mother or father to be healed, and they were not, we should not think that we were guilty or unworthy to receive a miracle, because it is not just about us. God allowed us to suffer this loss so that His works could become manifest. Sometimes when we read the New Testament we can get the impression that every third or fourth person Jesus met was a blind person whom He healed. But however many hundreds of people Jesus Christ personally healed, those who received miraculous healing were only a tiny, tiny fraction of all of the people who were suffering from severe and debilitating conditions. But those Jesus healed were chosen not because they deserved it more than those who were not chosen, but so that the works of God could be made manifest. Millions of people across thousands of years have drawn comfort and strength and hope from the story of the man who was born blind and then was miraculously healed. God will waste neither our miracles nor the times that we suffer without an instantaneous, miraculous solution to our problems. All of it will serve to manifest God's works and show us how to hope and survive and endure to the end, when all will be made clear and every single bit of seeming unfairness and evil and tragedy will make sense.