Lesson 15: God Sovereignty Over Suffering for His Glory

John 9:1-3 - "As He 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."

Jesus gives us another reason why we go through pain and suffering in these verses. Sometimes it is for the glory of God. Right after Jesus made this statement, "This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life," He healed the man of his blindness. What this shows us is that some things, yes Christian, even suffering, occur for the highest good, for God to be glorified.

In fact, I have not only witnessed this personally in my own walk with Jesus over and over again, but so did the Apostle Paul. He experienced all the reasons we talked about today for pain and suffering in one life!

One: Paul suffered under his own sin when he was on the road to Damascus seeking to capture and possibly kill some Christians. What happened? He was knocked to the ground and blinded temporarily and when it was all said and done, Paul got saved and became Christianity's greatest ally! God got glorified through it all and it obviously worked out for Paul's highest good!

Two: Paul suffered under other people's sin when the Jews wanted to assassinate him which led to a trip to Rome, at Rome's expense, which was precisely where he wanted to go anyway. So again, it worked out for God's glory and Paul's highest good!


Three: Paul suffered under demonic activity with the thorn in the flesh which the Bible says was a messenger of satan, a demon. The reason why God allowed it was to keep Paul humble, so again it worked out for God's glory and Paul's highest good.

Do you understand? Do you see the pattern? Everything we go through in life, Christian (not just Paul), is a result of our own sin, other people's sin, or Spiritual Warfare. But the good news for us as Christians is God turns it all around for His glory, our highest good, and we always come out on top. Listen to one young Christian man who had a young Christian family and wife and kids and was battling cancer. His final statement, as he looked death and cancer in the face was, "If God chooses to heal me, then God is still God and God is still good. But if God chooses not to heal me, and I should die, then God is still God and God is still good, to God be the glory.”

How can someone who has suffered the loss of a loved one start all over again as a single parent and say, "God is still God...and God is still good, to God be the glory"? You do it when you realize that as a Christian no matter what we go through in life, God turns it all around for His glory and our highest good.

* In what situation have you been able to say, “God is still God, and God is still good” even in dark times?