What did Jesus mean in John 9:3 when He said of the blind man, “…but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”? I can tell you what it didn’t mean. It didn’t mean that God made him sick and blind so that God could heal him, because that would be double-minded. Jesus didn’t say that God made him sick, and He didn’t say that God made him blind. What Jesus did say is that God is going to get glory out of the situation. So does God cause sickness? Well, in the context of what Jesus is referring to here, it’s not that God caused it to happen, but rather that God had a purpose in it.

Does God cause sickness because He is sovereign?

The conversation around God causing sickness often comes back to an idea that God is sovereign in the sense that nothing happens outside the hand of God. A scripture that proves that this is not the case is 2 Peter 3:9:

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

The scripture clearly says that God is not willing that any should perish, and yet people still do. Why is that? Because people have a choice. Back in John 9:3, God was not willing for this man to be sick, nor did He make him sick. He didn’t make him blind either but says that He is going to get glory out of the situation, and then healed him. Does God cause sickness for the sake of glory? The answer is certainly no, and the truth is that God wants you to be well.