When Suffering Reveals the Work of God

Scripture often shows God acting in ways that overturn human expectations. Again and again, what seems obvious to human judgment proves to be incomplete or even mistaken. God sees more deeply than we do.

We see a clear example of this in the First Book of Samuel when God sends the prophet Samuel to anoint a new king for Israel. Samuel might reasonably expect to be sent to a powerful family or an established leader. Instead, God sends him to the household of Jesse, an ordinary man from Bethlehem.

When Samuel sees Jesse’s sons, he immediately assumes that one of the older, stronger, and more impressive men must be the one God has chosen. From a human perspective, this seems perfectly reasonable. Kings should look like kings.

But God quickly corrects Samuel’s assumption. The Lord reminds him of something human beings often forget: “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.”

One by one, the older sons pass before Samuel, yet none of them is chosen. Finally, Samuel learns that there is one more son who has not even been called to the gathering. The youngest. The one who is out tending the sheep.

This is the one God has chosen.

David, the overlooked shepherd boy, is the one whom God anoints to be king.

This moment reveals something important about the way God works. Human beings often judge by outward signs: strength, status, appearance, reputation. God judges by something deeper. He sees the heart.

We encounter this same theme again in the Gospel when Jesus meets a man who was born blind.

The people around Jesus immediately begin to debate the cause of the man’s suffering. Was the blindness the result of his own sins? Or perhaps the sins of his parents?

Behind their question lies a common assumption: suffering must be a direct punishment for wrongdoing. If someone experiences tragedy, there must be a specific sin that explains it.

In one sense, they are not entirely wrong. Suffering entered the world through sin. Because humanity turned away from God, the world itself became disordered. Illness, suffering, and death are part of that fallen condition.

But Jesus shows that the situation is not nearly as simple as people assume.

The man’s blindness was not caused by his own sin or the sins of his parents. Instead, Jesus explains that God will use this moment so that his works may be revealed.

This does not mean that the blindness itself was good. Blindness is a real evil. It is a sign that the world is not as it should be.

Yet God, in his providence, is able to bring good even out of suffering.

The man’s blindness becomes the occasion for something greater. Through this suffering, the works of God are revealed. The man not only receives his sight, but he comes to recognize who Jesus truly is.

In this way, the Gospel reveals a profound truth about suffering. The suffering itself is not good, yet God does not waste it. Even the painful and broken parts of our lives can become places where his grace is revealed.

Jesus restores the man’s sight, and the miracle astonishes the neighbors. Some can hardly believe it is the same man. He had been blind, and now he can see.

Yet even in the face of such a clear sign, some still choose darkness.

Instead of rejoicing, they complain that Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Since the miracle does not fit their expectations, they conclude that Jesus must be a sinner.

Their certainty blinds them.

Even the healed man’s parents become afraid to speak openly, fearing punishment from the authorities. When the man himself testifies about what happened, the leaders refuse to believe him. Their pride prevents them from acknowledging the truth before them.

In the end, the story is not only about physical blindness. It is about spiritual blindness.

The man who could not see is eventually given sight. Yet those who claimed to understand God remain blind to what God is doing in their midst.

This is a warning for all of us.

As St. Paul reminds us, we were once in darkness. But through the grace of Christ, we have been brought into the light. Because of that grace, we are now capable of recognizing goodness, righteousness, and truth.

Yet we must still choose whether we will live in that light.

God sent his only-begotten Son so that we might dwell in light rather than darkness. Christ opens the eyes of the blind so that we may truly see.

Each of us is called to know the good, to do the good, and to love the good. Yet we can only do this if we allow the light of Christ to illuminate our hearts and restore our sight.

The real danger is not physical blindness.

The real danger is refusing to see.

And sometimes, what we think is darkness in our lives may become the very place where God allows us to see most clearly.