Daily Insights from the Bible - John 11

I want to start today by admitting that I sort of hit a wall this morning, emotionally. I was heading to the grocery store, first for my in-laws and then for my own family, and I was just wavering. My mother-in-law prayed over me at her front door after I picked up their shopping list, for which I am so thankful. But, then I walked into the store and saw the empty shelves and the eyes of the people around me. Everyone was serious. We were all cordial, but I saw lots of reddened eyes, probably people on edge - people like me.

Thankfully, I was able to get almost everything I needed for our two households, except some eggs.

But this experience left me sort of washed out. But the Lord knew what I needed and had our church's retired pastor give me a call and pray for me, and one of our deacons came by to drop off his tithe and prayed for me, as well. God sustained me in these ways today. I hope you've been experiencing much the same. And then I read His Word. The thing that stuck out the most for me today was at the beginning of John chapter 11.

This is the story of the temporary resurrection of Jesus' dear friend Lazarus (I say that it was temporary because Lazarus died, again, but there is a different resurrection coming that will be permanent - our hope in Christ!). There are so many wonderful things here, but what stuck out to me was this in verse 4: 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.”

Now, I'm not saying that our current experience with the coronavirus is totally analogous with the illness Lazarus experienced. I think that would be bad interpretation. What I am saying is that we can be completely sure that the end result and purpose of this epidemic is the same as Lazarus' illness - "the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

This is going to take much longer than any of us want it to - getting past coronavirus. I am now certain of that. And there will be repercussions of this that will be large and long-term. But God will be glorified and Christ will be lifted up, I am even more sure of that.

So, let's be looking for how the Lord is doing this. He is doing this within your home and mine, and He is doing this among the nations and peoples waiting to hear the Gospel.