Journey through John 11:1-6

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 11:1-6
 
Devo Thought: My guess is that everyone listening to this today has been through a moment or two in your life where everything feels like it is out of control. We’ve all likely had those moments where we feel lost, confused, and scared. We’ve have family members or friends who were sick or in danger. We’ve gotten phone calls we didn’t expect. We experienced sudden and devastating loss. We’ve had relationships end abruptly. There is a verse in our passage that I found to be incredibly encouraging for us in those moments. For context, Lazarus is sick, very sick, and Jesus knows about it. He could go quickly to him and heal him. We know he has that power, but he delays. Back to the verse of incredible comfort. I’ll show my hand quickly and say that it isn’t when Jesus says, “This sickness will not end in death but it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” While this is very true, I can understand how some might see this as a cold comfort. While God might be getting glory, I still lose. I doubt that I would lead with something like this if I was attempting to comfort a family that was suffering. I’m just sharing honestly as one human to another. However, and this is an important however, the truth above is given more context by John. This context makes all the difference to me. John writes, “Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus.” All that Jesus does and says and allows to happen to us is done in the context of his love for us. There is never a moment when he does something or says something or allows something where his love is not in view. We may not understand in a moment how God is glorified, but we can understand that He loves us. He always loves us in all that he does and says, and that makes all the difference when our lives feel out of control or when we lose or suffer.
 
Let us thank God that all that He does is guided by His great love for us.