The Works of God

After kind of a long hiatus for me, I’m back to reading materials on disability and the Bible.

Since one of Paul’s disabilities is that he can’t see because he has no eyes, I tend to pay closer attention to any discussion about blindness and the Bible.

I keep bumping into arguments about blindness and physical sight and God’s purposes, usually attempting to make God justify himself in some way.  It gets a little discouraging.  I may write about that someday.

But Paul’s lack of eyes isn’t all that important in an eternal sense.  God has already told us what kind of sight we need, and it is a kind of seeing he gives as a gift:

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
(Ephesians 1:15-21 ESV)

I don’t pretend to understand all God’s purposes in making my Paul blind (or his other disabilities).  But I know he was created for God’s good pleasure and to bring him glory.  And he doesn’t need eyes, or a rational, orderly mind, or a strong body to do that.

Someday the whole world will know God creates purposefully, and that ‘all’ really did mean ‘all.’

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
(Revelation 4:9-11 ESV)