When it Feels Like God is Late

“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was” (John 11:5-6).

“So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died'” (John 11:20-21).

“Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go’ (John 11:38-44).

Lazarus had died and Martha and Mary were devastated. They had lost their brother and fully believed that things would have been different if only Jesus had arrived sooner.

When I read through these passages I get a bit angry. I know how it ends, so the anger doesn’t last long. I know Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and I understand why He did what He did, but I get angry because I know how Mary and Martha must have felt. In this last season of my life I feel just like them. I keep thinking, Lord if you had been here sooner then I wouldn’t be in this situation, my husband wouldn’t be searching for a job, I wouldn’t have been rear ended on the highway. The list could go on and on, situation after situation. Feeling like the Lord missed the mark on His timing.

I am like Martha in so many ways. When she hears Jesus is coming she goes out to the gate to meet Him. She even says to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Martha knows the truth. She has spent time with Jesus and she understands what He has been teaching. I can relate to her here. Every morning I get up and spend time with the Lord and I pray to Him, “Lord I know that you will provide in your timing” or “Lord I believe you are the way, truth, and life.” And truly I do know (head knowledge) those things. The problem is connecting them to my heart and making it personal.

The other day it hit me. Like Martha, I believe what God’s word says and I know His truth but I am not really applying it to MY life.  I’m missing what He’s telling me. The truths that I pray and know in my head can be lived out in my everyday life. God can do more than I hope or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). I love in John 11:39 when Jesus asks them to move the stone away. He is getting ready to raise a man from the dead for crying out loud, couldn’t He just point his finger and make the stone completely disappear? But again, what a sweet Lord we have. I think He wanted to involve Martha and Mary in this. He wants them to take a step of faith and show Him that they trust He can perform this miracle. He didn’t ask much of them but He asks a small task, “Take away the stone.”

What is God asking you to do? For me, He wants me to believe that He is in control, that He is never late. He wants us to take a step of faith and just like with Martha, He will be right there with us when we do. He wants us to step out in faith and ”move the stone.” I challenge all of you to read John 11: 1-44. This story is one we’ve heard a lot, and may tend to overlook, but is so miraculous, and so important. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead so that those in the crowd, and Martha, and Mary, and me and you, could see the glory of the Father, and know that he sent Jesus to unbind all of us.

Standing on the Word

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A Prayer For Unbelief

Abba Father,

I confess to you that I keep thinking it’s all too good to be true! That’s how good, how incredible, how amazing your love and truth are! Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! It’s like I’m on a precipice looking down at this incredible place that’s too good to even imagine. I want to be there; I see it and can almost reach out and touch it, but I’m AFRAID to believe! If I really believe it and go “all in” I might be disappointed, I might get hurt. It can’t really be that good. So good that it can’t be real. That kind of goodness doesn’t happen, doesn’t last, isn’t real. There’s always a catch, always something bad lurking around the corner.

Father, forgive my unbelief! I do believe, help my unbelief!

But this! What if? What if it really is real? What if I finally surrendered my unbelief, doubting, questioning, scoffing, hesitating, and allowed myself to jump off the precipice with the greatest leap of faith I’ve ever taken? What joy and freedom is awaiting me? If I allowed myself to finally fully accept and believe all God’s promises are true? I am my own worst enemy. Please give me grace to be “all in.”

“knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence” (2 Corinthians 4:14).

To be in your presence; the One who “is kind to the ungrateful and evil”. It is unfathomable! The One who has taken every sin I have ever committed and ever will commit off my shoulders and heaped them ALL upon Himself to be my burden bearer and then carried this immense weight to the instrument of torture at Calvary–“my burden gladly bearing.” Oh, the wonderful cross! Oh my wonderful Jesus, Savior, Redeemer, FRIEND. What a friend I have in Jesus. He came to bind up the brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are BOUND!

What if FREEDOM is really real?! “For freedom Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1a) Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

“Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life” (John 5:24).

“Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst…And whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:35, 37b).

“For the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17).

“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage super of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9).

“And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’…And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment” (Revelation 21:5-6).

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:5b-6).

All your words are TRUE!

You are the way, the truth and the life! I do believe, help my unbelief. Oh God, you are my God. You are real and you reward those who earnestly seek you. I seek your face, oh God of Jacob! Hear my cry Lord. Give me grace to fall into your arms, completely trusting that “the eternal God is your dwelling place and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Thank you Jesus. You are faithful, you will do it!!!

Amen!!

Learning to Live in the Garden of Grace

 

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When You Feel Weak

How comfortable are you with being weak? I’m terrible at it. To avoid being weak I will, at all cost, avoid doing things that I am not good at. I have kept myself from reaching above my comfort zone in work, relationships, and writing. If I was not good at communicating with someone, I would not carry on a relationship with them. If I was being critiqued at work in an area I thought I did extremely well, I would pass along the project to someone else. I dread not being good enough. This past week, however, the Lord allowed me to be vulnerable in more ways than I was comfortable with.

The week started with the anniversary of my father’s death, it marked ten years. I was astonished by the time that passed and all he missed in his earthly absence. There were so many different emotions I was feeling that it was hard to keep up. In the past I have always requested this day off work so I can just be to myself. This kept me from having to express to any curious individual why I am quieter than normal, or less social.

This year the Lord gave me the strength to go into work. While at work I found out that I made a mistake on a big project that I would not be able to take control and fix immediately. This problem was out of my hands and I became unglued. This mistake coupled with the bottled feelings of the day came rushing out over the phone to my boss. My boss was so loving to me in the way she told me; she was encouraging and supportive.

I could not stop beating myself up about it. All I could focus on were all the dead ends that kept coming to mind when trying to come up with a solution to the mistake I made. I felt powerless. I felt weak. I felt exposed. Everything I disliked packed into one moment. Did I mention how embarrassed I was? Through tears I expressed to my boss that normally I would never touch a project like that again.

I want to paraphrase what she shared with me, “I want you to rest in this weakness you feel…you do nothing in your own strength. There is no room for pride. We can take no credit for what we do, we have to be humble. Only by the Lord’s grace can we do anything. Rejoice in your weakness, thank Him for your weakness…I am sure you feel like you want to hide, but run to Him, hide yourself in Him.” 

When I got off the phone I told the Lord, “Father, I confess I don’t know how to thank you for this weakness, but I thank you. I will thank you for all that You are. Father please forgive me for the prideful state that I was in. In my weakness you are strong, in my areas of weakness you are there guiding me. In the shadow of your wings I want to live because I am a mess when I do this on my own.”

My whole week was one reveal after another of my weakness. He is equipping me and teaching me how to rely on Him alone. I took so much pride in my ability to adapt, to thrive. Where is the reliance on the Lord in those moments? I never took a moment to run to His refuge first. His refuge is where I am safe, I am not strong based on my capabilities or in my human finite thinking. He is my protector and my provider. The world will tell me I am being weak, but that I should be strong. The world can make us feel as though our submission to Christ is out of the inability to be strong on our own. I love what my pastor quoted from a fellow believer this Sunday, “I would rather stand with GOD and be judged by the world, then stand with the world and be judged by GOD”. I don’t want to draw my strength from the approval of man. There is no growth there besides the growth of my pride and dependence on my human thinking.

In the Bible you can read time and time again where God’s people took it upon themselves to go their own way. In their weakness or “strength” they strayed. Even if they wanted to be strong, they could not uphold His law. Their human strength failed them and therefore a High Priest would be needed and sacrifices would be needed in the Old Testament. So much was required. I am thanking and praising Him though because in the New Testament you read about a man named Jesus who came and dwelt among us. He became the High Priest, He became the ultimate sacrifice. He was the Lamb of God, He fulfilled every law. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do,” (Romans 8:3). God knew we were not capable of living a life perfect and without blame. He saw our weakness. He could have left us and started over, He could have left us as the sinners we were, BUT, He made a way. This is why I must rejoice in my circumstances, even the ones from this past week. I don’t have to make up for any area I lack, He is my all in all.

I love what Paul says in 2 Corinthians, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong,” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

All for His glory

 

 

 

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