Craig T. Owens

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“…the Jews there tried to stone You, and yet You are going back?” (John 11:8). 

The disciples were sitting around Jesus contemplating the next steps when they heard the news that Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick and on death’s doorstep. 

This statement seems to be a very logical thought. At least it is logical from a human perspective. But God sees wider, farther, and deeper than we ever will, so His logic is both perfect and limitless. 

Yes, the Jews had tried to stone Jesus (8:59; 10:31, 39), and for mere men operating and thinking as men, staying away from danger is a logical conclusion. 

(Read of the biblical passages mentioned in this post here.) 

But Jesus was on-mission from His Father (5:19). He had to go to Bethany because the sickness of Lazarus “will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (11:4). Later, at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus prayed, “This is for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me” (v. 42). When the dead Lazarus was returned to life and came out of the grave, God indeed was glorified! 

Jesus declares that when we walk with Him, we always walk in the light (v. 9). This is because He IS the light of the world (8:12; 9:5). And as we walk with Him, we too bear the light wherever He calls us to walk (Matthew 5:14). 

To walk in our own logic is to stumble in the darkness (John 11:10). We calculate and plan from a place of scarcity and fear. As a result, we stumble right past—or we sit still out of fear—and miss the opportunities for God’s glory to be displayed. 

My logic always has a dark edge that I cannot see past. But the logic of God has no dark places because He can see from beginning to end perfectly. 

I must daily walk in His light, even into those places where my limited logic would tell me to avoid. It is there that I will be able to witness God’s glory that I wouldn’t have seen had I sat still in my “safe” place. 

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