For God's Glory
Hi everybody, it’s Pastor Dave Shepardson from Word By Mail, here with another daily devotion journal guide. If you have got our Alone With God journal, then open it to your next “Daily Journal” page and get your Bible.
If you don’t have our Alone With God journal, you can find out about it and get one at wordbymail.com. I’d also encourage you to listen to the devotion guide explanation. This is just such an awesome way for us to help you interact personally with God in his Word and by his Spirit. Find out about it, listen to that devotion guide explanation, and then jump in with us.
We’re going today to John Chapter 11. Open your Bible. Open your journal, if you have one – open the Alone With God journal. But more than anything else, get your Bible.
John Chapter 11. We’re talking today about the raising of Lazarus. But really, what’s on my heart today is when the Lord decides to work in a way that’s not what we expect or want when God is at work in a different way for a different reason than what we would even ask him for or what we would hope for or what we would expect. This is a great, great wrestle with the Lord that we see in John Chapter 11. So, I’m going to have to walk you through it a little bit because it’s a lot of verses. But I’d really encourage you to read in John Chapter 11, from verse 1 all the way down to verse 44. That’s the story of the raising of Lazarus. But I’m just going to give you the highlights here and then encourage you to read the whole section on the raising of Lazarus, but with these thoughts, maybe, in mind.
Here’s the story. Mary, Martha, Lazarus these are – it certainly appears – these are Jesus’ best friends outside of his Disciples. These are genuine friends of Jesus. And in John 11, verse 3, the two sisters, Mary and Martha, send a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” And so, the sisters send this message to Jesus. They believe. They believe. And further on, if you’ll read, you’ll understand this family believes that Jesus is the Messiah. They believe his healing power. They believe in him.
And so, they send him a message and say, “Lord, your friend is very sick.” And you can tell they assume that Jesus is going to come, and he IS going to come. And he IS going to work in their brother’s life, in Lazarus’ life, but not exactly in the way that the sisters hope or expect.
So, as we continue, in verse 4 of John Chapter 11, it says, 4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. Notice he doesn’t say Lazurus will not die; he says that his sickness will not end in death. And then he says, No, it happened for the glory of God . . . What’s happening here is for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So, Jesus makes it clear that what’s happening here is for the glory of God and for Jesus to receive glory.
And so, verse 5 says, 5 So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, And I would say sometimes although Jesus loves you dearly, verse 6 says, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days. And so, sometimes guys, we cry out to Jesus, and he hears us, and he loves us, and we expect, or assume or pray that he would do something according to our will, to what we want, and sometimes Jesus would say, “I love you, and I’m going to wait. I love you, and I’m going to bring glory to God through this, glory to myself through this.”
And so, moving on in the story, Jesus discusses this with his Disiples, and his Disciples don’t really understand. And so, down in verse 14, we read, 14 So he (Jesus) told them (the Disciples) plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.” This is hard for us to read. Jesus loves Lazarus and his sisters. He loves them – they’re his friends. And so he tells his Disciples Lazarus is dead. And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there because now, something greater is going to happen.
And so, Jesus goes back to Bethany where Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus lived. When he gets there, Martha comes to him, and in verse 21 says, 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. That’s Martha’s prayer. That was her prayer. That was her assumption. That was, honestly, her expectation. Lord, I kind of thought you would come when I asked you to come. And I know that if you would have done what I thought you were going to do, I know my brother would not have died. And then, in verse 22, Martha recognizes her faith in Jesus.
In verse 23, Jesus tells her, “Your brother will rise again.” And she says, I know, I know, Lord. 24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” And she’s holding onto her faith, but really, there’s this struggle with Jesus. Why didn’t you do it the way I kind of expected you to?
And so then Jesus says to her in those famous verses 25 and 26, 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha? Jesus is preparing to do something greater than healing Lazarus from his sickness. And Martha is still struggling, but she still has the faith. In verse 27, she says 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah . . . She reconfirms her faith, and then she goes to get Mary, her sister.
And then Mary comes to see the Lord, and down in verse 32, it says 32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
So then, there’s this weird verse in verse 33, but we have to kind of understand the language here. 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. This is serious because Jesus wants his friends, these Believers, to believe him more. To trust him more. To allow him to do what is best for all of them and for the glory of God. And so, he’s troubled. And so, in verse 34, he says, 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked them. And then, in verse 35, it says, 35 Then Jesus wept. And in verse 36, it says, 36 The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!”
But then, in verse 37, 37 But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?” And maybe those around you would say that, when you’re in this kind of a critical situation, and you’re praying and trusting God. And maybe your unbelieving friends would say, “Hey. I thought the Lord would do what you asked him to do. I thought, you know, you believe in the Lord; I thought he would do it the way you asked him.”
So, Jesus wept. So, he’s still disturbed when he gets to the tomb, the cave. He tells the people, 39 “Roll the stone aside.” Martha, again, not understanding, she says “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” And Jesus responds in verse 40. 40 . . . “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” Remember, Jesus said this is for the glory of God. And so, in verse 41, they roll away the stone. Jesus prays, and then 43, 43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, . . . And the end of verse 44, Jesus told them, “Lose that man and let him go.” 44 . . . “Unwrap him and let him go!”
Let’s get to the journal. Open your journal. If you have a blank journal, write down the word, Meditate. In the Alone With God journal, it says, What is God’s Word saying? What are the spiritual principles here? And there are others that you could meditate on, but I want to encourage you to meditate on when the Lord doesn’t do things the way we expect him to do them. Or when the Lord says to us that bringing glory to God is a higher purpose than him answering our prayers the way we want him to. That’s the wrestle that I’m encouraging you to wrestle with today.
And so, then next, it’s Apply. In your Alone With God journal, it says, How does this apply to my life today, personally and specifically? And I hope that’s pretty obvious. How does this apply that we believe that the Lord hears our prayers? We believe that he works in our life. Can we trust him to work in a way that is not what we expect or want or what we assume he’ll do? Do we trust him enough to allow him to bring glory to his own name through our circumstances?
And then the third step is Respond. In your Alone With God journal, it says, What action will I take today in response to this truth? Please, write that down there under Respond. Wrestling with this incredible event where Jesus loves his friends, but still, he’s using them in a good way. He’s working through them in an incredible, miraculous way to bring glory to his own name. That’s what’s happening. And it’s huge! And maybe your response would be I’m sorry that I expect you to do what I expect you to do. Maybe it would be something along the lines of Lord; I commit to allow you to, to ask you, even, to bring glory to your name in this circumstance, even above what I would want to see. So, wrestle with that. Write in those three sections in your Meditate, Apply, and Respond sections.
And then, I want to pray for you. And then I want to turn you loose to write in your journal and interact with God on your own.
Let’s pray. Lord, Jesus, may we have the faith to pray for your glory above all else in the circumstance that we face today. May we have the trust, Lord, to cling to you, knowing that you will do what is ultimately best for us and for your glory. And Lord, may our faith grow. May our faith grow in you, personally, as we learn to trust you and seek your glory above our circumstances. Lord, please, make this real to us today, for your glory in our lives and in your name, Jesus, amen.
Alright, guys, that’s a long stretch of scripture, but such a good meditation and application. So, if you need to know about the Alone With God journal, go to wordbymail.com. Better yet, download the Word By Mail app from your app store. You can get the Word By Mail app for these daily devotion journal guides. And, you can text us. In fact, if you want to get these devotion guides every day by text, just text the word DEVO to us and your name so we can text you back by name. We’ll text you these devotions every morning. (877) 790-WORD. (877) 790-9673. And you can text us there for any reason – prayer requests, questions. Things that you’re looking for. Subjects you’re looking for. There are over a thousand verse-by-verse Bible teachings at wordbymail.com. We’ll direct you to a series, or a message that will meet where you’re at right now. You tell us what you need; we’ll guide you there.
That’s enough for today. Thanks for joining us today for a long devotion. We pray that you’ll become part of the Word By Mail family. And, honestly, we pray that you would pray about supporting this ministry. If you’re part of the family, and if you’ve been experiencing the blessing of being involved with us and our teaching, and our devotion guides, if you would consider giving, you would be the hands and feet of Jesus providing for this ministry. We thank you for it in advance.
Have a great day. Bye-bye.
If you don’t have our Alone With God journal, you can find out about it and get one at wordbymail.com. I’d also encourage you to listen to the devotion guide explanation. This is just such an awesome way for us to help you interact personally with God in his Word and by his Spirit. Find out about it, listen to that devotion guide explanation, and then jump in with us.
We’re going today to John Chapter 11. Open your Bible. Open your journal, if you have one – open the Alone With God journal. But more than anything else, get your Bible.
John Chapter 11. We’re talking today about the raising of Lazarus. But really, what’s on my heart today is when the Lord decides to work in a way that’s not what we expect or want when God is at work in a different way for a different reason than what we would even ask him for or what we would hope for or what we would expect. This is a great, great wrestle with the Lord that we see in John Chapter 11. So, I’m going to have to walk you through it a little bit because it’s a lot of verses. But I’d really encourage you to read in John Chapter 11, from verse 1 all the way down to verse 44. That’s the story of the raising of Lazarus. But I’m just going to give you the highlights here and then encourage you to read the whole section on the raising of Lazarus, but with these thoughts, maybe, in mind.
Here’s the story. Mary, Martha, Lazarus these are – it certainly appears – these are Jesus’ best friends outside of his Disciples. These are genuine friends of Jesus. And in John 11, verse 3, the two sisters, Mary and Martha, send a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” And so, the sisters send this message to Jesus. They believe. They believe. And further on, if you’ll read, you’ll understand this family believes that Jesus is the Messiah. They believe his healing power. They believe in him.
And so, they send him a message and say, “Lord, your friend is very sick.” And you can tell they assume that Jesus is going to come, and he IS going to come. And he IS going to work in their brother’s life, in Lazarus’ life, but not exactly in the way that the sisters hope or expect.
So, as we continue, in verse 4 of John Chapter 11, it says, 4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. Notice he doesn’t say Lazurus will not die; he says that his sickness will not end in death. And then he says, No, it happened for the glory of God . . . What’s happening here is for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So, Jesus makes it clear that what’s happening here is for the glory of God and for Jesus to receive glory.
And so, verse 5 says, 5 So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, And I would say sometimes although Jesus loves you dearly, verse 6 says, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days. And so, sometimes guys, we cry out to Jesus, and he hears us, and he loves us, and we expect, or assume or pray that he would do something according to our will, to what we want, and sometimes Jesus would say, “I love you, and I’m going to wait. I love you, and I’m going to bring glory to God through this, glory to myself through this.”
And so, moving on in the story, Jesus discusses this with his Disiples, and his Disciples don’t really understand. And so, down in verse 14, we read, 14 So he (Jesus) told them (the Disciples) plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.” This is hard for us to read. Jesus loves Lazarus and his sisters. He loves them – they’re his friends. And so he tells his Disciples Lazarus is dead. And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there because now, something greater is going to happen.
And so, Jesus goes back to Bethany where Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus lived. When he gets there, Martha comes to him, and in verse 21 says, 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. That’s Martha’s prayer. That was her prayer. That was her assumption. That was, honestly, her expectation. Lord, I kind of thought you would come when I asked you to come. And I know that if you would have done what I thought you were going to do, I know my brother would not have died. And then, in verse 22, Martha recognizes her faith in Jesus.
In verse 23, Jesus tells her, “Your brother will rise again.” And she says, I know, I know, Lord. 24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” And she’s holding onto her faith, but really, there’s this struggle with Jesus. Why didn’t you do it the way I kind of expected you to?
And so then Jesus says to her in those famous verses 25 and 26, 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha? Jesus is preparing to do something greater than healing Lazarus from his sickness. And Martha is still struggling, but she still has the faith. In verse 27, she says 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah . . . She reconfirms her faith, and then she goes to get Mary, her sister.
And then Mary comes to see the Lord, and down in verse 32, it says 32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
So then, there’s this weird verse in verse 33, but we have to kind of understand the language here. 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. This is serious because Jesus wants his friends, these Believers, to believe him more. To trust him more. To allow him to do what is best for all of them and for the glory of God. And so, he’s troubled. And so, in verse 34, he says, 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked them. And then, in verse 35, it says, 35 Then Jesus wept. And in verse 36, it says, 36 The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!”
But then, in verse 37, 37 But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?” And maybe those around you would say that, when you’re in this kind of a critical situation, and you’re praying and trusting God. And maybe your unbelieving friends would say, “Hey. I thought the Lord would do what you asked him to do. I thought, you know, you believe in the Lord; I thought he would do it the way you asked him.”
So, Jesus wept. So, he’s still disturbed when he gets to the tomb, the cave. He tells the people, 39 “Roll the stone aside.” Martha, again, not understanding, she says “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” And Jesus responds in verse 40. 40 . . . “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” Remember, Jesus said this is for the glory of God. And so, in verse 41, they roll away the stone. Jesus prays, and then 43, 43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, . . . And the end of verse 44, Jesus told them, “Lose that man and let him go.” 44 . . . “Unwrap him and let him go!”
Let’s get to the journal. Open your journal. If you have a blank journal, write down the word, Meditate. In the Alone With God journal, it says, What is God’s Word saying? What are the spiritual principles here? And there are others that you could meditate on, but I want to encourage you to meditate on when the Lord doesn’t do things the way we expect him to do them. Or when the Lord says to us that bringing glory to God is a higher purpose than him answering our prayers the way we want him to. That’s the wrestle that I’m encouraging you to wrestle with today.
And so, then next, it’s Apply. In your Alone With God journal, it says, How does this apply to my life today, personally and specifically? And I hope that’s pretty obvious. How does this apply that we believe that the Lord hears our prayers? We believe that he works in our life. Can we trust him to work in a way that is not what we expect or want or what we assume he’ll do? Do we trust him enough to allow him to bring glory to his own name through our circumstances?
And then the third step is Respond. In your Alone With God journal, it says, What action will I take today in response to this truth? Please, write that down there under Respond. Wrestling with this incredible event where Jesus loves his friends, but still, he’s using them in a good way. He’s working through them in an incredible, miraculous way to bring glory to his own name. That’s what’s happening. And it’s huge! And maybe your response would be I’m sorry that I expect you to do what I expect you to do. Maybe it would be something along the lines of Lord; I commit to allow you to, to ask you, even, to bring glory to your name in this circumstance, even above what I would want to see. So, wrestle with that. Write in those three sections in your Meditate, Apply, and Respond sections.
And then, I want to pray for you. And then I want to turn you loose to write in your journal and interact with God on your own.
Let’s pray. Lord, Jesus, may we have the faith to pray for your glory above all else in the circumstance that we face today. May we have the trust, Lord, to cling to you, knowing that you will do what is ultimately best for us and for your glory. And Lord, may our faith grow. May our faith grow in you, personally, as we learn to trust you and seek your glory above our circumstances. Lord, please, make this real to us today, for your glory in our lives and in your name, Jesus, amen.
Alright, guys, that’s a long stretch of scripture, but such a good meditation and application. So, if you need to know about the Alone With God journal, go to wordbymail.com. Better yet, download the Word By Mail app from your app store. You can get the Word By Mail app for these daily devotion journal guides. And, you can text us. In fact, if you want to get these devotion guides every day by text, just text the word DEVO to us and your name so we can text you back by name. We’ll text you these devotions every morning. (877) 790-WORD. (877) 790-9673. And you can text us there for any reason – prayer requests, questions. Things that you’re looking for. Subjects you’re looking for. There are over a thousand verse-by-verse Bible teachings at wordbymail.com. We’ll direct you to a series, or a message that will meet where you’re at right now. You tell us what you need; we’ll guide you there.
That’s enough for today. Thanks for joining us today for a long devotion. We pray that you’ll become part of the Word By Mail family. And, honestly, we pray that you would pray about supporting this ministry. If you’re part of the family, and if you’ve been experiencing the blessing of being involved with us and our teaching, and our devotion guides, if you would consider giving, you would be the hands and feet of Jesus providing for this ministry. We thank you for it in advance.
Have a great day. Bye-bye.
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