John 11:1-43
Rebecca Lightfoot
We tend to blame God when we experience the unpleasant&painful experiences of this life.Most of the time these things will have Eternal Truths associated with them!These painful emotions&feelings&thoughts r the very things that the devil will leverage so he can turn us away from the TRUTHS of GOD’s great love for us.N John11:1-43 this happens n the lives of a family that has known Jesus for a while,and they “thought” that Jesus loved them!What they KNEW of Jesus previously was challenged/put into doubt by a horrible illness that comes to their brother Lazarus.Lazarus’ sisters send for Jesus to come HELP!When Jesus arrives Lazarus’ sister Martha runs out to meet Jesus.The first thing she says to Jesus is,”if you had been here my brother would not have died.”Martha then runs back to tell Lazarus’ other sister Mary that Jesus had arrived,& she says the same thing to Jesus!Jesus never mentions the fact that before he heard that Lazarus was sick,Lazarus had actually died!When Jesus arrives at Lazarus’ home,Lazarus had been dead for 4 days!It had been 4 days since Lazarus’ sisters sent for Jesus.At that time the sisters send for Jesus it was a 2 day journey for the messengers to reach Jesus w the news,&Jesus arrived 2 days after that! This means that Lazarus has died shortly after his sisters sent the messengers!When Jesus heard from the messengers,Lazarus had already died!Jesus never mentions this!When Jesus arrives,there were some(including the sisters)that were maybe wondering why Jesus waited so long,if he really loved Lazarus?There was a “blame game” that was being stirred up by temporal pains&emotions&challenges. The first thing people do is place blame on Jesus!(John11:37,”But some of them said,’Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying’).The first thing that Jesus does is to try to get them to turn from their temporal pain,and turn to the eternal perspective & promises of God.Jesus says,”Your brother will rise again...I am the resurrection & the life.He who believes n me will live,even though he dies;&whoever lives & believes n me will never die.”(John11:23-25).N no way is Jesus discounting the temporal pain they r feeling!N fact Jesus FEELS the same thing when he goes to the tomb of Lazarus(John11:35,”Jesus wept”).No one knows better than Jesus what the eternal promises are for those who believe n Him,& the WONDER&BLESSINGS that await us n eternity(John14:32b,Jesus says,”I go to prepare a place for you...”).Yet,Jesus also knows the depth of our temporal pain,and fully feels it himself!Jesus is not cold nor distant from us when we r experiencing temporal pains&challenges! He feels our pain with us!The devil will do everything he can to get us to focus on the extreme pains of the temporal,& forget the TRUTHS of Jesus’ great love for us,especially that Jesus extremely expressed when He suffered & died for us...AND the ETERNAL PROMISES of God that were “LOCKED IN” by the resurrection & ascension of Christ!The devil will use every bit of temporal pain & despair that we will experience to start us down the path of faulting God someway,& further down the path of totally misunderstanding Our Father n Heaven,& ultimately deny ourselves His Great Love!Dear Jesus,it is not easy for me to find where You are when I am going through tough things of life,yet I easily begin to find “reasons” that You “should be” where I want You to be!Help me to know The Truth that You know my pain,& that You have PROMISES n and through these “things of life” that r TRUSTWORTHY expressions of Your great love for me!Help me to “lean on” these!