Mud in Our Eyes

(Romans 8:28)

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.”

After posting this verse this morning I could not get it off my mind all day, if we truly understand this verse it can help us understand life and truly change our day to day walk with God. We all have had our share of ups and downs in this life. As long as we are still breathing we will still experience ups and downs in life. Romans 8:28 isn’t just an automatic promise, our lives must line up with God’s word and his conditions and exercise both obedience and faith in this verse.

A few weeks ago I was mixing concrete in a mixer. As I was pouring water into the mixer I got my head too close and it splashed the mud in my eye.  It didn’t take me very long to turn and run to the water hose. Dad asked me, “Do you have mud in your eye? Here wash your eyes out with this water hose.” He didn’t have to tell me twice because the irritation was painful.  In John chapter 9 Jesus and his disciples came across a blind man who had been blind from birth. The disciples asked Jesus I wonder if this Man has sinned or his parents, Jesus said neither but that the works of God should be revealed in him. You see sometimes we get in situations in life because of our sin and rebellion and then sometimes it is just called life. Jesus could have said to this blind man be healed and the blind man would have been healed right there on the spot! Jesus wanted the man to do something, to exercise obedience, so he sent him to the pool of Siloam, but Jesus did something before he sent him off to the pool, Jesus smeared mud on his eyes!

I am talking about Spit; saliva whatever you call it, Jesus made mud with it and put it on the blind man’s eyes. The mud made the man want to obey. It was a nudging and irritation for the man to go to the pool of Siloam to wash his eyes. The mud provided the motivation for the obedience Christ required.

We don’t always understand why mud gets in our eyes, but sometimes if it weren’t there, we would never obey Christ. We would never bring our hang-ups and our hurts or burdens of life to God so his power would never be revealed in our situations. God, and his infinite grace and wisdom, sometimes uses mud to restore our sight.

Then we see the promise of Romans 8:28 become real in our lives!