May You Receive Glory, God, Even in This
For many years, there has been a small note card taped to my kitchen wall with the line, “May you receive glory God, even in this…” scribbled across it. At the time I jotted these words down, I thought that they were meaningful, sincere, and thought-provoking. However, it was only as the rest of the story unfolded, of the young man who first spoke these words, that I truly began to grasp the wisdom they held. For the Lord is not only glorified in answered prayers and miracles, but even in times of trial and in the answers that we never wanted to receive.
When Trials Come
In April 2019, I heard the news that a young man named Josh was diagnosed with a rare, cancerous brain tumor. At the time of his diagnosis, Josh was only a senior in high school. He aspired to become a music educator and worship leader and had recently made plans to go to university on a music scholarship. A kind-hearted, talented young man with a passion for serving the Lord—Josh was the last person anyone in his small midwestern hometown suspected to be diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, and a whole community suddenly turned to mourning at the advent of this news.
But Josh had other plans. On the day that he was diagnosed, in a faith-filled act, wise beyond his years, Josh said these rich words despite the trials he had been plummeted into: “May you receive glory, God…even in this.”
Lamenting and Praising Amid Trials
When we receive devastating news, there is something innately within us that wants to scream out that this is wrong. We want to remind God that a young adult, just starting a new season of life, should not be diagnosed with cancer. We want to be mad—mad at the cancer, mad at the sin-cursed world we live in, and maybe even mad at God.
I would argue that, biblically, it is right to lament—right to cry out to God when the trials come. This is true in both Lamentations 3 and in Psalm 42.
In Lamentations, the speaker cries out: “I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath…I have forgotten what happiness is” (Lam. 3:1,17).
And the psalmist in Psalm 42 weeps: “My tears have been my food day and night…I say to God, my rock: ‘Why have you forgotten me?’” (Ps. 42:3,9).
As the authors of these Old Testament books did, it is fitting to lament the news of sickness, death, and injustice. We are reminded that there are seasons we may feel forgotten by God.
But then, even in that brokenness, we are to turn back to God, as the author of Lamentations 3 does in verse 19, and the Psalmist in Psalm 43. They turn to the Lord, as Josh did when he heard of his new trial. They remember that “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases” (Lam. 3:22) and they say to God, “I will praise you…O God, my God” (Ps. 43:4).
When trials come, it is right to be sad, to cry out in anguish. But it is also right to reach out to God, and to praise Him through tears.
When the Lord Answers Our Prayers
Unfortunately, nearly four years after he was diagnosed with brain cancer, following more than four hundred days in the hospital and numerous surgeries and treatments, Josh passed away. This horrible news quickly devastated his family and the small community he had grown up in. To make matters worse, on the day of Josh’s funeral—only moments into his memorial service—Josh’s mother collapsed unexpectedly and her heart stopped beating. Only weeks after her son, she also passed.
This was crushing for the large community of believers who had been praying fervently for Josh and his family for many years. Sometimes as believers, we hear Scripture such as 1 John 5:14–15 or 1 Peter 3:12 and we presume that the Lord will respond to our prayers in the way that we are asking him to. And so, when he does not, we cry out and ask how can this death be a testimony of God’s love and glory?
But the Lord does not always heal the sick, mend the broken, or open doors in the way that we ask. In truth, many of the answers we seek will not be made known until the time of the new creation, and yet we can be confident that the answers he does provide us (even in Josh’s passing) will work to bring glory to himself.
The Lord is Still Glorified
Scripture points again and again to a pattern of those who suffered despite being faithful to God. Ultimately, each of their sufferings glorified God because they pointed ahead to Christ, who was the most faithful and yet suffered, who died in what appeared to be tragedy. His disciples fell into darkness as they huddled together in locked rooms, questioning if God was dead. And all along, I am sure they cried out: God are you being glorified even in this?
And the Lord said yes! By the power of Christ’s death and resurrection, he and we are being carried into the fullest extent of his glory.
We stand in the promise of Romans 8:18 and 2 Corinthians 4:17 that, “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” and that “momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
And so, we can say to the Lord, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory” (Ps. 73:24). Though it sounds harsh to affirm from our earthly perspective, God brings suffering into our lives for the sake of our eternal joy and even more so for his glory now!
May you receive glory, God, even in this.