Give God the Glory
August 9, 2015
1 A man named Lazarus was sick. He
lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This
is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped
them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 So
the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is
very sick.”
4 But when Jesus heard about it he
said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death.
No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory
from this.” 5 So although Jesus loved
Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6 he stayed where he was
for the next two days. 7 Finally, he said to his
disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
Mary and Martha are very distressed and they have sent an
urgent message to Jesus that Lazarus is sick. They would not have bothered
Jesus if he had a cold. They are obviously scared for their brother’s very
life.
They know that Jesus and that He can heal their brother to
they sent for Him. Listen to the faith that Martha has in verse
22 – 22 But even now I know that God will give you
whatever you ask.” It is that kind of faith that led them to send for Jesus.
Jesus tells us that “Lazarus’s
sickness will not end in death.” But as we read it definitely does end
in death. As far as everyone around Lazarus is concerned, he died and he was
buried. Jesus knew better. Just like the Father in Heaven, Jesus knew the outcome.
Knowing the reason that Lazarus got sick, Jesus waits for two days before going
to see him. The disciples must have really been wondering what Jesus was up to
in waiting to go and see a good friend who was deathly ill. Let’s face it, we
would have been wondering the very same thing. This shows our shortsightedness when
we are not looking to God.
This made me think of a saying that my wife showed me
earlier today that said, “When you are going through something hard and wonder
where God is, remember the teacher is always quiet during a test.” Mary and
Martha were probably wondering where Jesus was and what was taking Him so long
to get there. We tend to do that a lot.
The thing that we have to remember is that when God has
allowed us to go through a trial there is a reason. We may not understand it.
We definitely don’t like it. But it is necessary. God is working on us. He is
refining us, removing our sin. We can be glad it is not like refining gold. Did
you know that the temperature for refining gold is 840° to 1,380° F.? That is a
lot of heat.
To be honest, sometimes we may never figure out why we went
through a particular trial, but I guarantee that you did learn something and
you were changed. I’m not going to question the Creator of everything. I have a
hard enough time trying to figure out some of the day to day things we do. God
is in control. He’s got this. What I will do is give God my best and let Him to
do the rest.
Gracious and loving Father, help us to be more heavenly
minded than earthly minded. When we go through trials, let us be teachable. Let
us see the blessing in it. Let us remember what Solomon wrote when he told us
to trust in you with all our heart and to not depend on our understanding but
to seek you in all that we do. Amen!
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