God is Able - Truth - Part 2

After struggling through writing a post for this week on Sunday afternoon, I went to church Sunday night and knew that God was either speaking to me directly, or He was giving me more to share with you ladies! Either way, it brings us back to the WORD!!

The service started off with a word from a man who visits occasionally, and typically gives a testimony when he is there. He spoke about Ephesians 3:20!! That God is able to do exceeding and abundantly more than we could ask or think!! I thought to myself, wow, that is the Bible study we are doing right now!!

Then, a special was sung before the message. It was the song Beautiful, by Kari Jobe. One part of that song says:

Here in Your presence
I am not afraid of brokenness
To wash Your feet with humble tears
I would be poured out till nothing's left
And I just wanna wait on You, my God
I just wanna dwell on who You are

Those words were lingering with me as the message began...

The message Sunday night was (in a nut shell)... God can do anything, but sometimes He doesn't do it. Sometimes He makes us wait. Sometimes He does things differently than we hoped that He would. If you read chapter 3 of our book, then you know this sounds familiar!  "Whether or not God chooses to do something is a question of His sovereignty, not His ability. Whether or not He will do it is His business. But believing that He can - that's our business."

The scripture that was used Sunday night was the story of Lazarus in John chapter 11. Let's talk about it for a few minutes.

I have had many moments over the last year that this story has come up. It is one that God has continually kept before me. If you are like I was before God kept bringing me to this passage of scripture, the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead most likely for you, was always about just that...Jesus raising him from the dead! 

At first glance this appears to be a story of exceeding and abundantly above and beyond!! I mean, who would have ever imagined that Jesus would bring a person back to life?

Mary and Martha didn't... They knew that Jesus could heal. They believed that if Jesus had come sooner, than He could have prevented death for their brother. But to them death was final.

In fact, our Youth Pastor who was preaching Sunday night, pointed out even more that I didn't realize before. Lazarus wasn't just dead, he was 4 days dead! The significance of that is that day number 4 is when a body starts to decompose after death. So, not only was he dead, but parts of him were not even in existence anymore! So YES, Jesus raising him back to life WAS an exceeding and abundantly above and beyond moment!!!

But this story is about so much more than the miracle itself. It is a story about the process of the miracle...

It's a story about the moments when Gods timing isn't our timing. When Jesus heard that Lazarus was dying, the Bible says that He stayed two more days where He was at. He wasn't in a hurry!!

It's a story about our lack of faith in the hard times. Mary and Martha said, "If only you had been here, he would not have died." They said that more than once! Jesus even told them, "I am the resurrection and the life" and they still said, "Lord, if only you had been here..."

It's a story about how much God cares about the things that hurt us. This is the story in the Bible where the shortest verse is found. Two words with a huge impact. JESUS WEPT.

Why would Jesus cry over a man who had died when He knew that he was going to raise him back to life?? He wasn't crying for Lazarus. He was crying for His friends who were hurting. Scripture specifically says, "when He heard them crying" then He wept.

It is a story that reveals our tendency to bury our issues and to try as hard as we can to keep them buried. When Jesus asked Mary and Martha to take Him to Lazarus and to roll away the stone from the tomb, their response was, "Lord, he has been dead 4 days... he stinketh!!" It is like they were saying that this situation is too much to handle. It is impossible. We have covered up how badly it stinks and if we could, can we please just keep it hidden?

It's a story that shows us that we have to be willing to bring Jesus to our problems and to do what he tells us to do. If we invite Him in and are obedient to His commands, THEN He can work miracles. Jesus didn't roll the stone away Himself... He made them do it. 

So, when you are waiting on your miracle, think about Lazarus. God's timing, our faith, our willingness to bring Jesus into our situations (even when they are decomposing and stink... especially then!!), and our willingness to obey His instructions to us will all play a role in us seeing our miracle. 

And while we wait... in the middle of the struggle, in the middle of the hurt, in the middle of our brokenness, in the wee hours of the morning when we are crying tears over what we are going through... don't forget that Jesus is weeping with you!

Let's embrace those moments as opportunities to welcome His presence into wherever we happen to be at. To bask in his presence. To open up to Him in brokenness and tears,  and to just wait in Him...

Here in Your presence
I am not afraid of brokenness
To wash Your feet with humble tears
I would be poured out till nothing's left 
And I just wanna wait on You, my God
I just wanna dwell on who You are