27. Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." 29. The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." 30. Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." 33. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34. So the crowd answered him, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" 35. So Jesus said to them, "The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.... Jesus has come into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, as prophesied, and the people are there waving their palm branches and crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" They have heard that he raised Lazarus from the dead and they want to see Jesus and they want to see Lazarus. In other words, they had heard all that Jesus had done and they were there to greet Him and they seem to recognize who Jesus is. In verse 27, Jesus speaks to the Father about why He has come to this hour and the Lord says to Jesus audibly, for all to hear, "I have glorified (this hour) and I will glorify it again." Some heard the Lord's voice as thunder and some seem to have actually hear the actual words and say, "An angel has spoken to him." As I was reading this, I realized that this is how we are even now. Some of us "hear" the Lord's voice as thunder...just noise that makes no sense. I can't count the times I've heard people say, "I have tried to read the Bible but it's too hard and makes no sense." The Bible is how the Lord speaks to us, but I don't think we can understand Him unless we know Him. There is no relationship that can be sustained unless we strive to know the other person so we can understand them. What really struck me, though, was verse 37-"Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him...." Jesus had healed the sick, made the lame walk, raised the dead(!) and still they did not believe in him. I wonder how this is possible. How could they see all these signs and wonders, hear what they think is an angel speaking to Jesus, and still not believe in Him? My heart aches to know that He did so much and yet they believed so little. Yet, we still do this today. The Lord continues to work in our lives and but we still doubt him. When our lives are going good, it's easy to believe in God, but when we're in pain, when our finances are non-existent, when we are or our loved ones are sick, when our marriages are falling apart, are we still believing Him? For some of us, the answer is no. We want a God that is more like Santa Claus then a real, living, loving God who allows things in our lives to grow us to be more like Him...to make us better and to glorify Him! We are here to do just that - Glorify our Lord, Jesus Christ - and lead others to Him so that they, too, will have eternal life. Let us pray that we would grow closer to Him, that we would see all He has done for us and believe in him!! Get in your Bible every day, pray to the Lord and ask Him to grow you closer to Him. Only when we walk with the Lord is our life truly meaningful and joyful. If you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior, please go HERE and see how you can accept Him into your life and start walking with Him. Only through Jesus do we have eternal life and a life worth living while on earth. God bless you - Julie
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