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[expand title=”Devotion Text”]John 11:1-4
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
It all makes sense when you know the whole story, doesn’t it? Lazarus was sick. Jesus took his time in going to see him. Lazarus died. Jesus raised him from the dead. What would have been a miraculous healing turned out to be a magnificent resurrection. With this miracle, Jesus proved that he held power over the final enemy—death itself. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, but in order to prove this, he had to wait until Lazarus died. It all makes sense when you know the whole story.
I readily admit that I don’t understand why people are born with deformities, why babies die, why moms and dads get cancer. I do not understand why people who are closely walking with the Lord are not healed while those who seem to have a casual relationship with Christ claim “the doctor couldn’t explain why the tumor was gone.” I don’t understand why children from great solid Christian homes jettison the faith. I don’t understand why a missionary I met in Spain will have to bring his Parkinson’s tortured body back home and put to death his dream while some godless pagan will live in great health submerged in materialism.
But I know this: It will all make sense when we have the whole story.
Just remember, whatever you’re going through is not the final chapter. The Author has not yet put the finishing touches on his grand finale. On the last page of our lives, God erases “The End” and writes “The Beginning!” We don’t understand it all now, but when we have the whole story, it will all make sense.
Talking Points
- Thank God for writing your story even when you can’t understand it.
- Thank God for making your story honor him—even when it doesn’t make sense to you.
Father, we know that you are working all things out for our good. We also know that living without the whole story is hard. Give us the courage to do what you are calling us to do. We are trusting that it is all for your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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