Tag Archives: John 9:1-41

May 17, 2015 Bible Study — One Thing I Do Know

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 15:15-17

    Pessimism and depression are a vicious cycle. When you are depressed, or expect the worst outcome in every situation, you notice the things which go wrong, and indeed, things are more likely to go wrong for you. On the other hand when you are happy and optimistic, you focus on the good things going on around you and dismiss the things which go wrong, and things are less likely to go wrong for you. This cycle means that when you become depressed it is very hard to break out of that depression.
    The second two verses are closely related. You will be happier serving the Lord in poverty than living for yourself with great wealth. I would rather have a simple salad with people I love than a great feast with people I cannot stand.

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Psalm 113-114:8

    Lately I have been struggling with finding the right words for what the psalms make me think and feel. Part of that is because the psalmist does such a good job of expressing their thoughts, part of that is just the difficulty of turning the poetic into prose. I will praise God, now and forever, because He is great enough to create and guide the entire universe, yet caring enough to reach out and help the poor and needy. His very presence causes obstacles to move out of the way of those who serve Him.

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John 9:1-41

    I think this is perhaps my favorite story of Jesus’ miracles. My father first pointed out what is the key point in this story for me (I’m sure others did it before him, but he was the one who first brought it up in my presence). Jesus healed a man born blind. The religious teachers and leaders of the day brought the man before them and questioned him. They were looking for something to hold against Jesus, or some evidence that He was a fraud. They confronted the man born blind with their conviction that Jesus was a sinner. The man born blind knew he could not argue theology or doctrine with these men, and did not try to do so. In the face of all of their learning and arguments against Jesus he replied with one of the great statements of faith, “I don’t know about any of that. What I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”(I am paraphrasing here).
    This is the important thing for us to remember. We must never allow arguments and debates about theology or doctrine distract us from the central Gospel message. I was blind, but now I see. In my case it was not physical blindness. Nevertheless, I was blind and it was not until I allowed faith in Christ to take root in my heart that I gained the ability to see God’s will for my life. I was proud of my intellect and ability to reason things out. It was only when I accepted that there were things which I am unable to understand, that my reasoning and logic will never fully explain how the world works, that I was able to truly see God. It is only by the working of the Holy Spirit that someone will come to God. I will never be able to give someone faith. I can only give them God’s love.
    I pray for everyone I meet that they experience Jesus’ miraculous healing so that they too will receive sight from God.

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1 Samuel 20-21:15

    Reading this story always makes me feel sorry for Jonathan. Jonathan was a good man who was loyal to David and probably would have made a good king. It also shows us how irrational Saul’s hatred of David was. Saul wanted to kill David because he considered him a threat to Jonathan taking the throne. Yet, he was willing to kill Jonathan when Jonathan refused to aid him in killing David. Yet, in all of this, David did not act against Saul’s interest.

May 17, 2014 Bible Study — I Know This: I Was Blind, and Now I Can See!

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 15:15-17

    Those who allow depression to rule their lives will see trouble in everything that comes their way. Those who choose to be cheerful will see every day as a holiday. Those who fear the Lord, and have the peace which accompanies that, are better off with just a little than those who have great wealth, but are troubled by what tomorrow may bring. I would not trade a simple meal with my loved ones for daily feasts with those I do not like.

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Psalm 113-114:8

    I will praise the name of the Lord because He is greater and more glorious than anything else in this universe. It is He who will elevate the poor and needy to great heights. He will bring happiness and fulfillment to those who serve Him, no matter how low and hopeless they may seem. Look at what He did for the people of Israel as He brought them out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land. He can and will do such wonders today.

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John 9:1-41

    Years ago my father pointed out that the man born blind made one of the great statements of faith. When the Jewish religious leaders pushed him to repudiate Jesus the man gave them a great reply. He did not address their argument. He told them he would not judge on such things. He chose to judge on what he knew. He knew that he had been blind and now he could see. Let us follow his example. Let us stick to what we know. What I know, before I met Jesus, I was spiritually blind, now I can see. Jesus came to give sight to the blind, those who think they can see without Him will remain blind.

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1 Samuel 20-21:15

    Jonathan considered David his best friend and refused to believe that his own father would be out to kill him. David convinced Jonathan to put his belief to the test. Jonathan willing to put his friendship to David above his loyalty to his father because his father was in the wrong. Jonathan and David are a great example of loyal friends. They were both willing to subordinate their ambitions to their friendship. We have two men who were mighty warriors, yet they never became jealous of the admiration which the other received.

May 17, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

1 Samuel 20-21:15

     In today’s passage we learn the extent of Jonathan’s and David’s friendship. Jonathan is a model of being a friend. Jonathan refuses to put family loyalty and ambition above his friendship for someone who has done no ill towards himself or his family. We can compare and contrast King Saul’s attitude towards David and Jonathan’s attitude towards David. King Saul is angry towards David because he believes that David will prevent Jonathan from becoming king. Jonathan wants to know what David has done to deserve death. The thing is that King Saul has become so irrational in his hatred of David that when Jonathan refuses to help him kill David, Saul attempts to kill Jonathan, even though he justifies his hatred of David on the fact that he believes David will prevent Jonathan from taking the throne.
     This passage also tells us something of David’s development as a warrior. When David went up against Goliath, he was uncomfortable with Saul’s armor and sword. Now when he is fleeing Saul and he stops to see the priest Ahimelech, David is happy to take Goliath’s sword, so as to have a sword. This indicates that David has become comfortable with the weapons of war. There is another interesting thing about this encounter. When Ahimelech sees David, he is frightened. There are several possible reasons for this. The first is that Ahimelech knows that King Saul is attempting to kill David and he is afraid either that word of David coming to him will get back to Saul or that David will kill him as payback to Saul for Saul’s efforts to kill David. However, I believe that Ahimelech’s fear comes from another cause. Based on what Ahimelech first says to David, I think that Ahimelech was afraid that King Saul had sent David to kill him secretly. This suggests that King Saul governed Israel through fear, that anyone who developed an independent power base was killed.

John 9:1-41

     This passage is one of my favorites because it is packed so full of lessons for us. The first one is the question of the relationship between sin and misfortune. When Jesus’ disciples see the man born blind, they can only think of two reasons why this might be so. They thought it must either be punishment for some sin he committed or for some sin his parents committed. Jesus’ answer was that the man was born blind so that God’s power could be demonstrated. This echoes the lesson from the book of Job that not all misfortune is a punishment for sin. I think we are called to see all misfortune as an opportunity to bring glory to God. If the misfortune is to ourselves, we should strive to bring glory to God by continuing to praise God and express confidence in God’s power. If the misfortune is to others, we should strive to bring glory to God by our efforts to alleviate their hardship by the application of the gifts that God has given us, both material and spiritual.
     The next thing we see in this passage is the refusal of some to accept that a miracle has taken place; “This isn’t the man who was born blind, just somebody who looks like him.” We face this every day in this world, people who insist that no miracles ever happen. This leads us to the next point. The religious leaders questioned the man born blind about what had happened. Some of them refused to believe that Jesus could be from God because He performed a healing on the Sabbath, which by their rules was a violation of the command to keep the Sabbath. The religious leaders wanted to deny that a miracle had taken place but the man’s parents corroborated that he had indeed been born blind and everyone could see that he could now see. They call the man back in and tell him that Jesus is a sinner and the man should glorify God. The man’s reply is profound. He says, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner.” The man is saying, “I can’t argue with you about this. I don’t have the training to construct an abstract argument like you can.” Then he says, “I know this. I was blind and now I see.” Here he is saying, “All of your abstract arguments are well and good, but the important fact is that when I was powerless, He helped me. None of your abstract arguments did that.” When the man suggests that they should become Jesus’ disciples, they tell him that they don’t know where Jesus comes from. The man’s response is, “What more do you need to see to believe? I was born blind and this man made me able to see. What other explanation can there be for that than that He is from God?” The religious leaders’ response is to reject the man as uneducated and a sinner who has nothing to teach them. We should be careful not to reject God’s teaching just because we don’t like the messenger.
     Finally, Jesus comes to the man born blind and reveals who He is. He tells the man that He came to give sight to the blind and to show those that think they can see that they are blind. He was telling us that we must not think we are better than “sinners”, we all need Jesus in order to see God’s will. If we claim to be better than those who society sees as sinners (drunks, drug addicts, violent criminals, etc) because we know God’s will, we stand condemned because we have broken His law just as they have. They at least have the excuse of not knowing God’s will. If we admit that we are just as much in need of Jesus’ healing as they, than God will forgive us, just as He will forgive them.

Psalm 113-114:8

     The psalms today tell us to praise the Lord everywhere because He is powerful and just. These psalms cause me to lift up my heart to praise God today. He raises the poor and the needy to places of prominence, not even forces of nature can stand in His way. Everything that is will move to fulfill God’s will. I will praise the Lord today and every day.

Proverbs 15:15-17

     These three proverbs tell us some important truths. The first one tells us that if we are looking for what is wrong with our lives, we will find it. On the other hand, if we celebrate what is good in our lives, we will find ourselves with nothing to complain about. This is not because it will make that much difference in what actually happens, but because if we focus on the good things in our lives, the troubles will seem unimportant, while if we focus on the trouble in our lives, the good things will seem unimportant. The second and third proverb are linked. The second tells us that it is better to do God’s will and be at peace with little material wealth than to have a lot of material wealth and be constantly concerned about either losing it or getting more. The third tells us that it is better to spend our lives with those we love and who love us and miss out on material pleasures than it is to have those material pleasures surrounded by people we do not like.