John 11:1-27; 2 Chronicles 10-11; Psalm 75

“Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, ‘Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.’ When Jesus heard that, He said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ …Then Jesus said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead.’”  (John 11:3-4,14 NKJV)

If you put these three verses together without knowing the ending, you could get very confused. On the one hand Jesus said that this sickness wouldn’t lead to death. The disciples, hearing that, took heart when they heard that Lazarus was “sleeping.” Sleep heals a lot, and they figured that meant Lazarus was healing. Then Jesus told them the truth: Lazarus had died. Spoiler alert! That’s not the end of the story because Jesus brought him back from death. He knew what was going to happen, but the disciples didn’t. So they went back to Jerusalem, Bethany really, where Thomas led the way in being willing to die with Jesus. The disciples trusted Jesus. When He told that that this sickness was for the glory of God, they believed it so much that when Jesus used a common euphemism for death, they took it literally. When Jesus said it was time to go back to Jerusalem, they followed Him, even though they expected their own deaths. 

Sometimes we know the whole story when God’s working on us. We may be going through a difficult time and believe that God’s revealed the outcome for us. It’s easy to believe when we’ve seen the whole story. Usually, though, we don’t know what’s going to happen when we set out to walk with Jesus. If we’re walking with Jesus, I can guarantee you that trouble’s going to happen. Some people give up when the trouble comes. Don’t. Let God shine through the problems and reveal His greatness to an even greater degree than you’ve already known. The disciples expected Lazarus to be dead and the Jewish leaders to arrest all of them. Instead, they saw the miraculous power of God because they kept walking with Jesus. Keep walking with Jesus and you’ll be amazed at God’s presence in this world.

Lord, life would be so easy if we knew what would happen as we went through all the twists and turns ahead of us. Remind me that it’s far better to know who holds the future than to know the future.