Do I Know the Glory of God?
- Shelly Joylyn
- Nov 25, 2024
- 5 min read
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7
I have had the crucifixion story burning in my heart the last few months. This last year of walking through the call to “come and die” has opened up the scriptures like these in a new way for me.
It’s no secret that the Lord has been moving through women in a new way over the last couple years. There has been many Esther movements that not only have awakened women around the world to take their rightful place in the Kingdom, but has also revealed to the Church that a new warrior generation is arising amongst the remnant. The voices of women are being restored and they are being used to shine the Light into the dark places of the world.
As I have been drawn to the scriptures that share the details of the death of Jesus something stood out to me recently that hasn’t stood out to me before. As I’ve read and reread over the last several months I’ve been drawn to the women that stayed and endured to the end.
Mark 15:40-41 says, “There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
In this passage of scripture Mark 15:33-41 recalls the death of Jesus. It talks about when Jesus asked God, “Why have you forsaken me?” It tells us about Jesus’ last breath and His loud cry. It talks about the curtain in the temple being torn from top to bottom. It tells us of the centurion who watched Jesus’ breathe His last breath and then confess that “Surely, this man was the Son of God.” There is a lot happening here. It’s easy to overlook the last part of this passage that talks about the women.
As I’ve continued reading this story I’ve been drawn to that small part of the story over and over again. Honestly, it has brought up more questions than answers. Why did they stay to watch their Savior crucified? Why did they endure? How did they endure? More so than the questions that have swirled through my brain about the women were the thoughts that brought me back to Jesus. Why did He endure? How did He endure?
Questions always seem to lead to more questions on this journey of life as we read through the scriptures. Thankfully we have the Holy Spirit who breathes wisdom and revelation into us as we seek Him. As my heart has cycled through these questions and as I have walked through suffering in my own life the question that I come back to more than any other is, “Do I know the glory of God?”
It never makes sense to the human mind how God would be glorified in suffering. It’s very easy as followers of Jesus to pray and believe for God’s will to be done only to be met by utter disappointment, confusion, and despair when the glory of God is revealed in our own life through suffering.
I cannot imagine how those women that followed Jesus, who devoted their lives to Him, who ministered to Him, who loved Him made the choice to endure to the end. They stayed and watched their Savior be crucified before their eyes. Do you think they felt like God was being glorified in that moment? They didn’t understand what was happening during that time. They knew the promise, but I’m sure they did not expect the Son of God to be murdered before their eyes as their promise fulfilled.
Can you imagine Mary, the mother of Jesus? Can you imagine the process she walked through all throughout His life? Any mother could tell you that motherhood is a constant call to trust God with your child. It’s a daily act to lay your child on the altar believing and trusting God with their heart and life. Could you imagine that moment for Mary as she watched her son, the Son of God given as the sacrificial lamb. Could she see the glory of God being manifested in her life that day as she endured through the pain, suffering, and torment? Can you imagine the faith that it took to be able to endure to the end and stay in a place of surrender that allows God’s will to be done? How easy it would have been to stand in the way of that glorious moment of grief doing anything and everything to take control of the situation instead of standing on the promises of God when they seemed so far off.
So many of us believe that we see or feel the glory of God in our lives when the prayers are answered, when the breakthrough comes, when I can stand and proclaim the victory. Yet, reading through my Bible more often than not I’ve seen the will and glory of God in suffering not victory. I’ve seen it in enduring to the end, not in answered prayers. I’ve seen it through the prayers only tears can pray. I’ve seen it in the wilderness when there was no way out. I’ve seen it in the famine when there was no provision. I’ve seen it in laying my daughter on the altar trusting that the Lord has a plan and a purpose for her life. I’ve seen it in walking away. I thought the glory of God would be revealed only through victory, only through joy, only through answered prayers. Yet, in His grace His glory is revealed in our suffering so that He alone gets the glory.
I want to be a daughter that endures to the end. At the end of my life I want to look back and know that I wasn’t too scared, too defeated, or too traumatized. I want to look on my Savior in suffering and let my life proclaim that I will stay and endure so that the glory of God can be made manifest in my life. No matter how bad it hurts. No matter how much I don’t understand. No matter the cost. I want my life to proclaim that I have decided to follow Jesus and there’s no turning back.
Do you know the glory of God? Can you see it in your life? It comes in as a whirlwind of hope in the midst of your darkest nights. It comes in through unmet expectations and prayers that were answered in opposite ways. It comes through suffering. The most beautiful part of this story of the women enduring to the end is that it was those same women who stayed, who stood, who continued to hope even after death that were the first to see the Resurrected King.
If all you see today is darkness and suffering let your hope be restored as you continue believing in the resurrection of King Jesus. As you place your First Love before all things and endure to the end you will be the first to see restoration, new life, the Risen King. The glory of God is resting upon your life in this moment. Do not waste this season. Perhaps you will give the greatest offering of your life as you surrender your heart to worship through the unimaginable suffering you’re walking through. God alone will receive the glory and in Him alone your joy will be found.
May the Lamb receive the reward of His suffering through us as we endure to the end. May He find us fully surrendered, a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable before Him.
The call to “come and die” has now become the call to “come and live.” It’s time to shake off your grave clothes. The King is here.
Comments