Based on John 11:17-27 (New King James Version)
“So when Jesus came, He found that he [Lazarus] had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Then 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.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to Him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’
Do you believe in something when it is achieved, or while it is fought for, before achieving success? Everything in this life presents itself like this; that you have to fight for everything, but always with the vision of what it will be like. We all wake up in the morning (unless you work or study at night), with a goal in mind. We have a vision of something. For those of us that think short term, we think about what we are doing at the beginning of the week, or even, at the beginning of the day, to be able to get the desired result. For example, many people think about their weekly pay. They work all week with the idea that they will be compensated for their efforts at the end of that same week. Some folks think a little farther ahead; they think on what they will gather in a month, to make the usual monthly payments. Others think even further, and not only do they think about the week, the month, but also, how much are they able to put together to buy a certain piece of furniture, a car, or even a house. And well, there are others that even think about retirement: “How much can I save, so I can retire some day?” But, in all of that, no one gets anything ahead of time, with what involves getting paid to work. You first work, with a vision and a hope (because it’s like that), that they will pay you at the end of a certain period. I have known of some people that have worked very hard, and they did not get paid for their efforts. They were cheated (and that’s unfortunate, but it happens also). Nonetheless, there is always a vision, a hope, and a challenge. God does the same thing.
In this passage, we read about Lazarus, the Lord’s friend that dies, and his sisters (Martha and Mary) who are crying for him. The first words that Martha says are: “‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’” Even though she calls Him Lord, she rebukes Him, scolding Him because she blames Him for Lazarus’ death. It seems like we all have similar thoughts, and for different circumstances; that the Lord is never to be found when needed. Even though He is omnipresent, God always seems to be absent, especially when we need Him most. We judge whether God is present or not depending on how things turn out. If things turned out well, like we wanted, then we say: “God was present”. And if things turned out wrong, we say: “God wasn’t there,” or “He abandoned me”, or “It wasn’t His will”, etc. People judge God depending on how God performs for them. And there is a problem, or problems with that.
The first problem is that we think that God should revolve around us (individually), being watchful over every little thing, and of course, doing things like we think they should be done. If that is not pride, then I don’t know what else that could be. The big problem with this is that we take God’s love to mean that we should be at the center of the universe for the Lord. This is like thinking that the Sun revolves around the Earth, and not like what really happens, that the planets in the Solar System revolve around the Sun. The Lord loves us, and immensely, but the world consists of more than just one person (me). The Lord loves the whole world; not just one person. So then, He watches out for everyone and everyone’s purpose all together, or at the same time.
The other issue is being able to see the determination of our faith, whether it’s something momentary, or lasting; superficial, or genuine. The majority of people give up quickly, especially when things do not go the way they want them to. Time and through difficulties are the only things that reveal a person’s faith; not the temporal, nor while things are going well. There was a lot of purpose through Lazarus’ death, and that could be viewed by seeing it through Lazarus’ family, through Martha. Part of the purpose for Lazarus’ death was to see how Martha would react, whether Martha would continue believing in Him despite the time Lazarus suffered during his sickness, by seeing him die, and while he was dead in the sepulcher for four days, but even more, to see how long He took to get there. If you see Martha’s reaction, Jesus failed by not being there, by letting him die, and for taking so long. At that moment, Martha must have been thinking that this Jesus whom she had followed and served had failed on all accounts. And the only thing left was that her brother would be resurrected at the last day. How many of us think like that, that God has failed us everywhere (according to our thoughts), and even more, that doubt starts setting in, and the Lord’s position in our life is lowered? People sometimes treat the Lord like shares in the stock market, that when everything is going well, people buy even more shares because they think things will get even better. But when something goes wrong with a company, or something moves the consumer’s trust, they start selling their stock as quickly as possible.
The issue is that faith is a challenge, and it is a challenge that God allows for at every moment. And faith challenges always happen when circumstances choke us, when things are not going well, when we see delay, or when we never get what is so longed for here on earth. But, since we have the advantage of the Word of God, we know exactly how everything will end, and even more so, how things will be long after we have left this planet. So then, the question will always be, especially while we are here on earth, and during our worst moments: Do you believe in the Lord, and in such a way that it transcends even your worst moments, not really worried about how long they will last? It is written: “Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’” John 11:40. It is also written: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6.
So then, have you accepted the faith challenge? Lord bless! John