Dave and I heard an awesome message last night at church….It really spoke to me about the fact that I have such distorted expectations of God and when “my expectations” are not met that I immediately take that as God not hearing me…or God being distant or even worse…Not wanting to help me…and the Holy Spirit really showed me that my heart had a huge stone rolled in front of it from thinking that God has abandoned me or has forgotten about me..instead of looking at all of these trials as being “exactly” where He needs me to be so that the “Glory of God” might be shown to all…..I need to know this and I need to believe this…because I have no control over the next year or its circumstances….all I have is “God”…all I have is the promise that He would never leave me or forsake me…but is that enough???? I pray it will be….
Our pastor based it on John 11 – The death of Lazarus and a family in crisis….
Mary, Martha and Lazarus were “loved” deeply by Jesus…but they found themselves in crisis…Mary had just shortly before this crisis “anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume/oil and her tears”….She had a “mountain-top” experience with the Lord….How many times do we have that and then we quickly fall flat on our face…? Mary, Martha and Lazarus “truly” believed that Jesus was who He said He was….but…..
But now they were a family in “crisis”, like many of us find ourselves…..whether it’s a health crisis, financial, marriage, rebellious children, or all of these or something else…they now “needed” Jesus and they needed Him fast….they KNEW he was “able” to make it all better…they KNEW if they could only reach Him that He would come immediately and heal Lazarus….
So, Mary sends word to Jesus who is away…and says, “Lord, the one YOU LOVE is sick”….She believed that Jesus really did love her brother. She also knew that “Jesus” was the only one who could make a difference in her brother’s life…that she was helpless without Him….and she also shows us that no matter who we are… “we all have expectations” of God and how “He” should respond to our needs.
However…the hard lesson… the most important lesson of this study was and still “is”…that the way God responds to our needs…..our crisis… may not meet our “expectations” of God…
Jesus’ response to this family’s crisis was:
1. Yes…I love Lazarus and I am in deep sorrow about his health…..
2. Yes… I am the only one who can make a difference in this situation…and I will…
3. But…. I don’t do things the way you may want to see them done…but I do them so the “glory of God” may be shown…
So…Jesus stayed put where he was for “two more days”….TWO MORE DAYS??? LORD did you not hear what I said…We are IN CRISIS here….WE NEED YOU NOW and WE EXPECT YOU TO HEAL LAZARUS !!!! Do you think this was an easy thing for Jesus??? It wasn't … he was deeply grieved…but KNEW that the timing was as such that God was preparing for HIS GLORY to be shown in all of this….
You see…there’s “our plan” and then there’s “God’s plan”…..God’s timing and His ways may sometimes cause us pain…We just don’t understand that God is preparing to reveal Himself to US and to others who do not know Him….
Can you imagine how Mary and Martha must have felt??? I can….I have felt it many times….especially over the past two years….my pillow saturated with my tears and crying out to God….”God…where are you?????” “God…please no more…not now” !! “God…when will you come and relieve us of some of these problems?”….”God are YOU NOT LISTENING?????!!!!”….”God…why me????”…..and my main plea…”God I CAN’T TAKE ANYMORE”…..(can ANYONE relate with me on this???)
Jesus told the disciples that he must wait so that the “Glory of God” may be shown to an unbelieving world…
When Jesus did show up…Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb for FOUR DAYS…Now this is a dismal picture in our frail “worldly minds” isn’t it?? And even though Mary “believed” that Jesus was who He said He was…she still said to Him when he arrived…”Lord..IF YOU’D ONLY BEEN HERE MY BROTHER WOULD NOT HAVE DIED !!!” She obviously didn’t understand still who “Jesus” was….or else she wouldn’t have been in such despair……(sound familiar????? Lord…if you only had given me that job we wouldn’t be going through this…Lord….if only you’d give me a breather I could do more for you and your Kingdom….and Oh..my most recent…Lord..if only you’d grant Dave’s prayers so he can travel…yeah..I’ve been very wrapped up in that one ! As if God is genie in a bottle ! Lord…Lord…Lord…if only..if only..if only !) LOL ! (you gotta laugh at some of this stuff…)
At this point, the scriptures state that “Jesus wept”…not only because of the fact that Lazarus had suffered and died...but also because of the “unbelief” of those who He thought “knew” Him intimately…I wonder how many times I cause the Lord to weep because of my “unbelief”….
Jesus said….”remove the stone from the tomb”…and this time “Martha” pipes in ! (she questions the Lord of the universe…)…”But Lord…He has been dead for four days..the stench will be unbearable!”…
And Jesus says…”Didn’t I tell you …didn’t I show you so many, many times….that IF YOU BELIEVED you would see the GLORY of GOD??”
And most of us know the rest of the story….Lazarus was raised from the dead for all to see that day…and EVEN with that…EVEN with that….there were those there that day who did not believe…BUT….Mary and Martha never questioned Him again….The next time we see them, it’s at Jesus’ tomb…running towards it…believing that HE WAS INDEED ALIVE !! (not wavering at all….but running towards Him…in the world’s view…it was as bleak as ever…but Mary KNEW this time….)
When we think like this…when we think that in the midst of our sorrow and pain…..that God is not there…..or He is not listening……or He is not “able”… it changes our viewpoint about God…we start to doubt Him and see Him as “distant and cold”….uncaring or even “unwilling”…and we start leaning on our “own understanding” and that is a dangerous place to be…God IS there…God IS able…God IS listening…GOD is going to bring us through…God IS all that we say we believe Him to be and more…
Finding God’s presence in ALL circumstances……whether we get the answer we “want” or not… brings healing to our unresolved pain…(and I realized last night that I have a lot of this floating around in my heart….unresolved pain…the pain of watching my husband suffer and go through chemotherapy…the pain of lost friends…lost time…..the pain of my own physical limitations……the pain of the “what ifs”……and the “whys???”)
How do we find God in the “circumstances” that we find ourselves in…in the health crisis..in the marital conflict…financial struggles..etc… ?
We HAVE to let go of our perceived expectations that God has to rescue us according to “our thinking” and “our timing”..….Mary and Martha obviously did not see God’s plan…until it was unveiled….until they “saw” that Lazarus was alive….How many times do we have to “see” an outcome to “believe” that God is in control??? I know that I fall into that category way too many times to count on my fingers and toes….
We need to “want” to find God’s presence in whatever the situation is…to find that “quiet place”…where He beckons us to “come and rest our weary souls”….”to be still and KNOW that I AM GOD”…It takes “faith” on our end….Faith in the God of the Universe…who raised Lazarus from the dead…to “find his presence” in all things…It’s time we “let go” of the expectations and trust that God will be faithful EVEN when we don’t see anything happening on our time frame.
I have a friend who almost every time I see this person I ask how they are and they say “Oh…Life is good…I got money in the bank…jobs on the horizon…and I’m feeling great”!! I always wonder “what if” life wasn’t “great”…what if the bank had no money in it…what if there were no jobs…what if they just got a diagnosis of “cancer” or “fibromyalgia” or some other disease….What would they say then?? Would life still be “great”???? Would there still be excitement in this person’s life?? Would there still be the sound of happiness and contentment?? I don’t know…but I pray and I hope that I can be that person that says “Life is great and God is still ABLE…God is still with me…God deeply loves me”….no matter what the circumstance…I know I will still have my “fleshly” moments…I am human…I have limitations….I get tired…I get weary….I don’t want to see suffering….but I pray that from this day forward, I can remember and take hold of the fact that God never ever ever leaves me…He never forgets me…He never is “not able” to do something exceedingly wonderful in my life EVEN IF the outcome is looking bleak….all I need to do is “believe”…God help me in my “unbelief”….
Let’s find God today in our “here and NOW” and still know that He loves us…deeply…that He weeps with us when we hurt…but He mostly hurts when we think that He just does not care or is not “there” in the darkest parts of our lives…
Just a few thoughts from what I heard last night….and thought I would share with you all.
Love..Barbie
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