Have you been reading the bible for years/Do you get into familiar passages at times and just find yourself skimming over the familiar words rather than slowing down and sitting with them for a bit. After all Jesus said His words were Spirit and life. I don’t know about you, but I can always use some more spirit and life in me. As I read through John 11, a chapter that I feel like I have read hundreds of times, I was really amazed by what I have never noticed before, but carried a great meaning in the moment.
John 11:5-6 (ESV) 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Did you see that? I have missed it numerous times. I have known that Jesus waited 2 more days after learning Lazarus was very sick before going to them. What really caught me was that it said “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. He loved them and still He waited to go to them. It is easy when we are going through things to feel forgotten. Sometimes we pray for what we want and the answer does not come immediately. I think we need a new perspective, the one Jesus was bringing to Martha and her family.
Martha did everything right. She sent word to Jesus. She expressed her fears and the need. She did exactly what we are supposed to do in a crisis. Still, Jesus let them feel the pain of death. He suffered with them. He didn’t let them suffer alone We see Jesus weeping on His way to the grave. Death always hurts but Jesus was showing them it isn’t the end. The more important message was that the resurrection is a person. They needed to know this before Jesus was crucified. They need to know that there is life after the grave and it is Jesus. He was preparing the way for them to be where He is.
It is the lesson Isaiah had to learn. Ezekiel 37:1-7 (ESV) 1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
When it feels like the Lord is not answering us, we need to remind ourselves of these two stories. Jesus is at work. He is bringing life. He has not forgotten us. He has a plan and He is bringing it to fruition in our lives. If we will submit to Him and praise Him in the midst of the trial, He will reveal His life to us and in us through the thing we must go through. There is no pointless trials in the Kingdom. They all serve to fulfill the Lord’s purpose in our lives. It is when we learn to quickly submit to Him on whatever path He leads us down that we can walk in peace and prosper in every way that He has for us. He is not just leading us into places of suffering. He is going ahead of us, preparing the way. He is leading us down a sometimes dark, and apparently dangerous path so we can see Him in the midst of live’s trials. He is teaching us to abide in Him, regardless of what we see.
The real question is are we going to trust Him when the way isn’t clear and the obstacles seem insurmountable.?
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