Daily Devotion - John 11:35 - "Rest" God is Our Comfort

I don't know why she was born paralyzed.

The diagnosis came October 2019. Spina Bifida, they called it. A hole in her back. Missing vertebrae and broken nerves, disconnecting her legs from her brain. She'll never walk on her own, and may always be dependent on others.

I don't know why God created her this way.

[Psa 139:13 ESV] 13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

If God is actively involved in the process of forming each child, then He intentionally created my daughter to be different than other children, to have physical challenges and limitations, to have a life full of hardships and difficulties.

[Jhn 9:2 ESV] 2 And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

It obviously wasn't her. She hadn't even done anything wrong.

So perhaps it was me. Maybe I was in so bad shape spiritually that God condemned her to a life of brokenness to teach me a lesson. I must be beyond worthless indeed to deserve such a wake-up call!

But that still leaves God as vindictive and sadistic. Punishing a child for the sins of the father?

[Jhn 9:3 ESV] 3 Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

God always has a higher purpose. He has thoughts and ways that are far different from our own, and His plans are completely independent and separate from our actions.

I don't know why God created her this way, but I know God's character.

[Jhn 11:35 ESV] 35 Jesus wept.

Lazarus was dead. His sisters Mary and Martha were grieving, weeping at his grave. Jesus, overcome with compassion and empathy for His friends - and I believe extreme sorrow over the curse of sin and death - weeps in the presence of the entire gathering.

Jesus wept.

This is the shortest verse in all of Scripture, yet the most profound. In these two words, we can see, hear and feel Jesus' love for us in the middle of our brokenness.

Jesus didn't enjoy His friend's death. He didn't enjoy creating my daughter's physical limitations. He doesn't enjoy any aspect of this broken, cursed world full of sin, pain, misery and death. He despises it all, even more than we do.

That's the whole point of the cross.

Jesus Christ came to restore all things back to the "very good" nature in which they were originally designed and created. One day He will return and permanently defeat sin and death, but until then, He continues to use this world's pain for His purposes and continues to weep with us while we go through it.

I don't know why He chose to create my daughter with a broken body, but I know I can trust His wisdom, goodness and love as He weeps over us.