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.”
John 11:4 NLT
http://bible.com/116/jhn.11.4.NLT
How often do we pray for something, expecting both immediate results and for it to be done “our way”?
I’m sure there were those who remembered Christ saying this and when someone came to tell them Lazarus was dead, their lack of belief, their lack of faith was proven, because they couldn’t yet see how Christ was going to use this circumstance to demonstrate the miraculous where people were used to the ordinary.
How many times do we put God into the box of operating within the confines of c what we understand about the world? How often do we learn about the sciences which measure how we expect the world to operate under normal conditions – and we expect God to only work within the normal bounds of His creation?
But sometimes the Lord has something miraculous and unexpected in mind. And sometimes the answers to our prayers will extend beyond what we even understand as possible. Sometimes the healing takes place after the death. Sometimes the blessing comes after the breathing stops. Sometimes the fruit is being grown and the change is happening during an excruciating trial.
His ways are very different than our own. But He is always faithful and true. For Lazarus, his death was not the end of the story, for He was raised to life, after death – just as I hope each and every one of you will experience one day. Know the path and walk the path. Start at John 3:16 & Acts 4:12 and never stop digging, never stop running this race to the finish. So that the Son of God will receive glory in your story as well.
Harold J. Ballinger 