March 5....you would see the glory of God

John 11:40 “Did I not assure you that if you believed you would see the glory of God displayed?” (NAB)

“Did I not tell you;” replied Jesus, “That if you believed you would see the wonder of what God can do?” (Phillips)
“Did I not tell you, that if you believed, you would see the glory of God.” (NIV)

Heavenly Father,

Here we have another “truth” from Jesus, another “if” statement contingent on our faith, another promise. Jesus stresses that he has told them this fact…it is true. Then comes the “if”….”If you believed”. If we trust Jesus and recognize who he is…the Son of God…than we will receive: “you would see the glory of God displayed” or “you would see the wonder of what God can do”. 

I guess the words that keep teasing at my mind are the phrase, “if you believed you would see”. Someone in the crowd had just said, “could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” We know that, yes, Jesus could have chosen to keep Lazarus from dying, but in fact delayed his arrival to be there after he died. That seems strange and heartless, but because we know the happy ending, we don’t think much about it. We know that Jesus will raise Lazarus from the dead. The question the man asked, is the same one we ask each time Jesus fails to answer a prayer for physical healing….”couldn’t he have done what we asked” or “why didn’t you heal him?” We see all problems from our own perspective and see the answers we desire. We don’t see beyond to a possible greater result or miracle. We want healing….You want to give resurrected life! 

When Jesus delayed coming and Lazarus died, he told the disciples, “…for your sake I am glad I was not there so that you may believe.” Not stopping every worldly problem doesn’t mean Jesus can’t act, but that he uses life’s problems to increase our faith and allow us to “see God’s glory”. Yes, Jesus can open a blind man’s eyes and yes, he can also open our “faith eyes”. We must let him choose the miracle. “If you believed, you would see….” Belief, trust, come before seeing. Believing is the most important thing. Believing in Jesus nets us eternal life. We too, will be resurrected and brought out of the tomb to new life. We will see “the glory of God displayed!” We will see, “the wonder of what God can do!” I do believe…help my unbelief!” Thank you! Amen.