A Miracle In the Making
God is in the miracle-making business. He knows how to do what no one else can do, in a way that no one else can do it! Regardless of how impossible your situation may seem, there are miracles He wants to perform in your life that will leave you fully assured of His sovereignty and in complete awe of His goodness. The enemy is keenly aware of this as well, however, and will do whatever he can to convince you otherwise. His primary objective is to cause you to question God and lose hope in the midst of your adversity. Dear reader, don’t let him succeed! There is a miracle in the making on your behalf if you will press forward with a persistent combination of both faith and action. Ample evidence of this is found throughout the bible; however, the story of Lazarus is particularly intriguing to me. From this story, we can glean three powerful insights on how to stay strong while God is doing His mighty work:
1. Hold on to faith. When Lazarus became fatally ill, his two sisters (Martha and Mary) sent word to Jesus about his condition. Instead of rushing to meet him, however; Jesus stayed where he was for two more days. As a result, the two sisters expressed great disappointment about Him not coming sooner so that Lazarus could be healed. They knew Jesus was able to heal him, but by the time He arrived, Lazarus was dead! “If you had been here,” Martha lamented, “ my brother would not have died.” This reality could have caused bitterness and anger towards Jesus; however, Martha said something very interesting after that. She finished with, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Martha held on to faith even when everything about the circumstance she faced said it was impossible. She wasn’t sure what the end result would be, but she knew her God had no limits!
2. Know that God does care. When we’re going through a difficult trial, it can feel as if we are all alone and that God must not really see or care about us. But that is not true at all! When Jesus saw Mary, and the Jews that came along with her also weeping over Lazarus’s death, he was “deeply moved in the spirit and troubled (John 11:33).” He began to weep with them as well. Jesus can empathize with us better than anyone else can because He suffered so much when He walked on this earth and He took every burden, pain, and sin to the cross. He hurts when you hurt and wants you to know He cares so very deeply for you and what you go through.
3. Think beyond the natural. Some things simply won’t make sense. In the natural, it didn’t make sense that Jesus waited two days before making the journey to see his dying friend “whom He loved” (John 11:3). And it certainly didn’t make sense when He asked for the stone to be removed from Lazarus’s tomb/cave four days after his death. By that time, Martha reasoned that his body would be emitting a foul odor from decay (John 11:39). Imagine the shock and amazement of everyone present, though, when they witnessed a dead man walk out of his cave, wrapped with strips of linen upon Jesus’s command to “Come out!” We have to think beyond the natural because we serve a supernatural God!
Just as God was able to call Lazarus back to life, He is more than able to resurrect anything that seems to be dying or has died in yours. His timing is always perfect, even when it doesn’t make sense. If Jesus had arrived upon request to heal Lazarus, or anytime sooner than He did, not as many people would have witnessed God’s glory and put their faith in Him. What about you? Will you allow Him to use your circumstance to bring Him glory? I certainly hope so. Because there is a miracle in the making for those who do!
MOVE. MEASURE. MARCH.
March On!
Letty Roy
