I was planning to write on the Psalms today, and I will still touch on them a bit, but I started reading a sermon by John MacArthur on our John passage and I got all excited about that!
But anyway, psalms first.
Psalm 27 starts off "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?"
The way to overcome our fear is to focus on God. He is our light, our salvation, our stronghold - our everything. It seems simplistic - but it is revealed as truth all around the world as believers face persecution and even death without fear and without renouncing their faith in God. But if we do not take care to cultivate a rock solid relationship with God, we may find it more difficult to put our complete trust and faith in Him when that moment arises.
Psalm 29 is such a majestic description of God's power as displayed in creation.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. (v5)
My Life Application bible says that the cedars of Lebanon were giant trees that could grow to 120' tall and 30' wide - that's a big tree!! And God can break those trees simply with His voice. That kind of power is simply mind-boggling! And the coolest thing is, the power that God has revealed to us in nature, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead - it is available to us!!
So, on to the John passage which is the beginning of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. As I read it I was reminded of a book I reviewed recently called Lazarus Awakening, but then I kind of tuned out a bit because, after all, it's so familiar and I just read a whole book about it so what more could I learn right? Wrong!
When I went looking for a sermon by John MacArthur on this passage, the title Sickness for the Glory of God completely jumped out at me. This has been the only way that we've gotten through our nephew Baret's long battle with illness, especially when he was literally on the verge of death - believing that God is powerful, God is in control, that God is good, that God is love and that ultimately this situation, no matter the outcome, would bring glory to God.
MacArthur mentions three ways the Lazarus miracle gave glory to God...
Number one, it brings glory to God because it points to the deity of Christ. Only God can give life. Jesus had been claiming to be God and now He gives life. And that vindicates His deity....This miracle gives glory to God because it vindicates all the claims of Jesus Christ to be deity, He is not a man, He is not like God, He is not a little sub‑god, He is God of very Gods....
secondly, it confirmed the faith of the disciples. A little while later we'll see how Jesus said I'm glad Lazarus died. You say, "Well, that's kind of a heartless comment." No, because He knew that in the resurrection of Lazarus, the disciples' faith would just take a giant leap forward cause they would see the expression of His power and their faith would be strengthened. So, it brings glory to God because of the strengthening of the disciples' faith.
Third reason it brings glory to God was because it led directly to the cross. You say, "Well, how could the cross bring glory to God?" Listen, the cross was the greatest glorifying event in the life of Christ. Over in chapter 12 verse 23, Jesus said, "The hour is come that the Son of Man should be ... what? ... glorified." Listen, when they put Him on a cross, the world thought that was the end and that was the glorification of Jesus Christ bearing the sins of the world. (emphasis mine)
It absolutely pointed to the deity and power of God. The doctors had given up hope. There was no medical treatment options left, there was no medical reason to expect anything but death. But they didn't leave room for God.
We knew God could heal Baret. We did not know if He would. And that was such a hard line to walk - how to you merge practicality and medical certainty with hope and faith when you don't know what the outcome will be? That is so hard to walk out in real life. We knew that the outcome would be the one that would bring the most glory to God, but we didn't know which outcome would do that.
Baret and updates about Baret and Deena/Chris' words of faith have been plastered all over Facebook for two months now, being read by believers and non-believers alike. Deena and Chris' updates always reflected the belief that God was all-powerful, that God created Baret's brain and that God was fully capable of healing Baret if He chose to do so. But they also claimed over and over that God would do what was best - whether that meant healing him in this life or the next. And that God would give them the grace to make it through. What testimony! What faith! Truly the reason for Baret's sickness was for the glory of God.
And MacArthur's second point rings true in this situation as well. Baret's sickness and his ultimate healing (though still in the process of fully being realized!) has absolutely strengthened the faith of believers, likely all over the world. It has increased our faith, increased our testimony and increased our witness.
The third point is maybe a stretch, because Baret did not die. But he came as close to it as you possible can - his body had already started shutting down. But God reversed the dying process and began to restore life to Baret's body and brain. Which again, points to God's power and control over life and death, which points to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Sickness for the glory of God!
Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 31, Psalm 35, John 11:30-57
6 comments:
AMEN!!! And Glory to God 100% for Baret's healing - and continued healing! Awesome post Tammy!
What always catches my eye in the Lazarus story is something John Piper points out in his "The Blazing Centre" DVD series (our SS class went through them last winter). In our NIV Bibles, it says, "5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. In almost all the other major, widely-used translations, the text says, "5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6SO, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
That one little difference COMPLETELY changes the meaning of the phrase!! But the versions using "so" or "therefore" make far more sense when you consider Jesus had just said Lazarus' sickness was for the glory of God.
I find it interesting that in the NIV, that connection between the two thoughts is completely lost.
Beautiful post, Tammy. God has done an amazing thing in your nephew's life. I pray we will continue to see the impact of this miracle for years to come!
amazing how one little word can make such a difference in interpretation and implication and meaning. i think the NIV got it wrong on this one!
Yeah, I tend to agree!
I have been so encouraged in my faith watching the miracle unfold. I think sometimes we underestimate God's power and purpose.
Wonderful post, Tammy. It's so encouraging and uplifting to read stories like Baret's and Chris and Deena's words of faith during the ordeal that they went through. Even though it doesn't always turn out the way we hope, it still helps in any situation to know that God can and does still work miracles!
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