For the Glory of God

Recently at church I was glancing through the book of John and a verse jumped out at me. Looking at verses through the tinted lenses of our current trials often makes me notice wording that I hadn't noticed it before. The verse is from a passage in John which starts with "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany".

I should note that personally I really wanted to name my son Lazarus, but Alisha repeatedly vetoed it. If I had my way, Roscoe's name would have probably been Lazarus. Just think of the cool nicknames like "Laz" and "Russ", or the crazy scientist he'd become with a name like "Lazarus Wackerly". However, his name is Roscoe and that's that. We've already changed his name once (from "Dottie") so we're not going to change it again.

Jesus was informed that his good friend Lazarus was critically ill, and he responded with:

But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” - John 11:4

This is the verse that stood out to my eyes as relevant to Roscoe's story. Lazarus went on to die, remain dead for four days, and then be raised from the dead by Jesus. I find it interesting that Jesus said that the sickness would not "end in death". Had Lazarus never fallen ill or perished, God's glory would not have been shown through the healing that God ultimately provided.

My hope is that Roscoe's story mirrors the story of Lazarus. Had Roscoe never fallen ill or nearly perished, you may not have been following his story. I hope that Roscoe's sickness will not end in death. I hope that by Roscoe coming to the brink of death and then being healed, the glory of God will be revealed in Roscoe's life.