This is written by a fantastic lady, Arden McLaughlin. She has a Tumblr link if you are interested. This really hit home with me today and I hope you enjoy!
Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” John 11:4
This verse leads us into one of my personal favorite stories about Jesus and His work. The deal is one of Jesus’s besties (Lazarus) is dying. In response to his sickness, Mary and Martha, Lazarus’s sisters and wonderfully dear friends of Jesus, send for Jesus to come heal Lazarus right away! So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold,he whom You love is sick.” (John 11:3)
Jesus doesn’t come when they call him.
In response to this, I’m guessing the sisters are irked, confused, and hurt. They have seen Jesus heal the seemingly unhealable. They’ve seen him perform miracles for perfect strangers. Their walk together has been pure and holy, so obviously, Jesus will heal Lazarus. They are Jesus’s top buds, practically family, so He’s going to come through big time for them.
But, Lazarus died. By the time Jesus got to the family, Lazarus hadn’t just died a minute or two before His arrival. Nope. The funeral had taken place and the man was tucked away in a tomb. It was done; story finished.
Have you ever been there? Have you known with all your heart that a situation was finished and you just had to accept it? Maybe you are the perfect steward of your finances: you tithe, you don’t overspend, you are Dave Ramsey’s number 1 protégé, yet you cannot seem to get out of the debt you accumulated 10 years ago?
Or, you are a single woman or man of pure virtue. You date Christ followers, you pray for God’s guidance in each relationship, and truly submit yourself to His will, yet every relationship you have ends so badly you wonder if your heart will ever truly love.
Maybe you’ve always been a total health nut and were just diagnosed with brain cancer. Or, your child, though in church every Sunday with you, has rebelled against all you have taught him. Or, you’re just so darn sad you can’t find a way out of the darkness.
You know what I mean, you’re at the flipping end of your rope and there is no way your situation is going to end in a way you want. You have prayed and pursued God and He’s not showing up. Your situation is going to end in death; death of your bank account, death of your heart, or death of you. It’s just done.
But then you hear the Lord: This sickness isn’t the end of you. It’s the beginning of me.
I’m a dramatic gal with a knack for storytelling. A dramatic pause goes a long way in getting my audiences’ attention (and boy do I love an audience!). I serve a God who is the KING of the dramatic pause!
So, back to Lazarus, Mary, and Martha…. When Jesus came, He found that he (Lazarus) had already been in the tomb four days… Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give you.”(John 11: 17, 20-22)
Ultimately, Jesus brought Lazarus back to life. (Read John 11 for the juicy details.) There is tons of speculation on why Jesus did what He did in this situation. Maybe He wanted to show His power. Maybe He was laying the groundwork for His own death and resurrection. Maybe it’s one of those things I’ll never know until I’m in Heaven riding my lion. The bottom line: Jesus wasn’t finished even though everyone else thought He was done.
And that’s the beauty in the beast of your crummy circumstance. If you’re a Christ follower, He’s never finished with you. Your story is His, the glory is His, but the timing is His as well. I think God uses that time to see how we’re going to grow our faith in the promises He’s given us.
I know He uses the crummy to grow me. There have been times when I was so dejected I seriously started to question my faith in Him. What kind of God just doesn’t answer prayers? What kind of God just abandons me? “Where are You?” has come out of my mouth more than once in my lifetime. But, I look back and know He was in it the mess with me. He was making me a stronger woman to handle the tasks in which I now find myself.
And He’s waiting to shout, Lazarus, come out” (John 11:42b) to you too. If you’re still on this Earth, it’s not over yet. Most likely, He’s just getting started.
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