By: Tekoa Manning
Can I ask you to think about your greatest weakness for a moment? Now, can I invite you to look at some things Jesus, Yeshua, did that I find mesmerizing, that might be encouraging to you?
There was a man in the book of John, who was born blind. He sat and begged daily for money. As Jesus and some of his men passed by they had a question: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Awe yes, men seem to affiliate sin with sickness. Everything bad seems to be blamed on the person with the ailment, or the adversary, but what if the person with the affliction is special, set apart even, and called to do a manner of work?
Jesus answered his men in this manner, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him,” John 9:3. Troubling, that we think we know God’s ways by what man has taught us. Even Moses who had issues speaking well was told something very interesting when he complained about the assignment God had given him.
Let’s look at that. “Then Moses said to the LORD, ‘Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’ The LORD said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?’” Exodus 4:10-11 NASB.
Many well-meaning Christians blame blindness on Satan, both in the natural and the spiritual, but I believe our afflictions may be trying to tell us something greater. Could The Lord Adonai take all our frailty and use it for His glory? Of course! He could and He does.
Now what I find mesmerizing in the story of Jesus healing the blind man is when the text says He spat on the ground. His saliva and dirt made magic, but then again His Father created man out of the same dirt. Not only did Jesus form mud and apply it to the blind man’s eyes, but also He commanded him to go wash in a pool of water named Siloam. This water was where the Priest filled their golden pitchers and on the Feast of Tabernacles, they poured this water out over the altar.
Now, we see God using a man that lived his whole life in total darkness, on a side street, with a cup, begging, suddenly become whole, in such an astonishing way that all the people in the community see! When the religious leaders questioned and tried to find excuses, the once blind man answers them in this manner, “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.” John 9:32.
With Moses, God took a man with problems speaking and used his voice to lead a nation. With the blind man, God used him to confound the wise and show the works of God… and our God is a God of works!
I want to tell you today that whatever your weakness, or what looks like a curse to others, is exactly what Jesus will use for His Glory, and rightly so. He has never used prideful, puffed up folks. Actually, Paul was given a thorn in his flesh, to keep him humble! The important thing we must remember is- our curse may indeed be a blessing and our greatest strength!
“For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 NASB.
Photo Cred: Lukas Budamaier
Tekoa Manning is the author of two fiction works, Polishing Jade & Walter the Homeless Man. After a neurological illness left her disabled and eventually homeless, Tekoa began to channel her creativity into writing and devouring the Word of Yahweh. She is the wife of a retired police chief and the mother of three sons. Tekoa and her husband reside in a small town in KY. The pen name Tekoa means Trumpet, the instrument that unites people at a sudden impulse.
You can find out more about Tekoa and her writing endeavors at tekoamanning.com