He stayed where He was for Glory's sake.
The disciples didn't want Him to go to Judea for fear of the Jews stoning, but Glory walks in the day because the light is in Him.
Glory walks; Glory pursues.
Glory goes to awaken the dead.
Glory goes so that you may believe.
When Jesus came to Judea, He found a tomb where four days of death had lingered.
Martha didn't understand why Jesus hadn't come sooner, why He hadn't been there before life turned to death.
Mary wondered also.
Why had Jesus waited to bring the Glory-walk into the place of their what if's; the place of death?
Their brother was at the point of death when the Glory-Walker stayed back.
Glory stayed back.
(But when death is imminent, when the ache is severe, why does Glory wait?)
Martha confidently spoke into the Glory moment when her faith was challenged, "I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You". But the answer that returned to her troubled heart made no sense. The answer would take more faith than the grief-walker could give, because Glory had chosen to wait.
And while that seems hard, I promise, what follows is so much better.
Because, at the right time, Glory would choose to walk to the place where Martha grieved.
Glory would move towards the grief-sitting Mary; the one who had always chosen the one thing necessary when Jesus spoke.
And Glory would walk to the tomb, where those who through the fear of death remained subject to its slavery.
In John 11, Glory chose to walk; Glory pursued the ones who could not.
The loved and grieving sitters were in desperate need of what only the Glory-Walker could give that day, when resurrection seemed too far away to grasp.
The sadness had overwhelmed, leaving the grief-stricken immovable.
So Glory walked.
And when the one who grieved chose to believe the Glory-words; the grieving-one became the seeker; the one who chose to see what their grief had masked.
God-Glory.
Oh my dear Glory-seeker,...when Glory-believed seeps into our deepest points of grief, it becomes our deepest place of faith.
It becomes Glory-faith!
Trust that Glory will walk so that faith can come.
Choose to be a Faith-walker so that you can then become a Glory-walker.
Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing for others to behold?
