I want you to turn your Bible with me to a familiar chapter of John Chapter 11 and verse 6. And let me say, I’m a lot slower than I used to be, but I’m going somewhere and I want you to go with me. John 11:6:
“When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.” I want to share with you this thought: What do you do when Jesus doesn’t do what you think He ought to do?
John Chapter 11 records for us the death of Lazarus. It is believed that Jesus spent a lot of time in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, as he ministered in and around Jerusalem. Yet, in this chapter, this family whom He loved:
- They are going through the biggest valley they have ever crossed;
- They are facing the greatest trial they will ever face;
- They are facing the greatest tragedy they’ve ever faced;
- And they are carrying the heaviest burden they will ever carry.
And in this moment, in this time when they really needed Jesus – He wasn’t there. So, what do you do, when Jesus doesn’t do what you think He ought to do?
And then He says in verse 15, “And I am glad for your sake that I was not there.”
Not only was Jesus not there – but, He was glad He wasn’t there.
Has there ever been a time in your life when you really needed the Lord to be there, but seemingly, He wasn’t there? Job said in Job 23, “Oh that I might know where He is that I might find Him.” The valley was so deep, and the night was so dark that Job said, “I can’t find God.” Has there ever been a time when you needed Him, yet you couldn’t find Him?
If you study this chapter, you will find that He was not there, He was glad He was not there, even though they called for Him. In verse 3, the Bible says,
“Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.” And I love the way they approach the Lord “He whom thou lovest is sick.”
You see folks, they didn’t approach Jesus on the basis that they loved Him, but rather, on the basis of His love for them!
GOD IS LOVE! And I am grateful that He loves us unconditionally. If He blessed us based on our love for Him, we’d be in serious trouble! But, I am grateful that He blesses us on the merit of His love!
“Behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.(V.1)” Even though they called for Him, He was not there.
Have you ever prayed and it just felt like your prayers were falling on deaf ears? Have you ever prayed and it just seems the Lord would not respond?
Even though they called for Him, He was not there. And even though He cared for them, He was not there. Now look at verse 5: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”
Does anybody know who the sister was here? It was Mary. Mary was the worshipper in the family. Mary appears 3 times in the Bible, and all 3 times, do you know where you find her? At the feet of Jesus.
Martha on the other hand, was a take control kinda person. She didn’t have time to sit at the feet of Jesus. Martha was too busy serving and working. She took matters into her own hands, and when she didn’t know what to say, well, she’d just say anything.
She even told Jesus what to do, “LORD, bid her that she might help me.”
Now I’ve heard a lot of wonderful messages over my lifetime about Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus – but I’ve never heard one positive message about Martha.
I’ve heard many poems about Mary – but I’ve never heard a poem about Martha.
- But notice what the Bible says, “Now Jesus loved Martha – and her sister, and Lazarus.”
- Jesus loved Martha, and what’s her name, and Lazarus.”
I think everyone of us has a little bit of Martha in us (some of us more than others):
- We get to busy;
- We don’t have time to sit at the feet of Jesus;
- We don’t have time to hear His word.
A lot of us say the wrong things, we take matters into our own hands. We ALL have a little bit of Martha in us, yet the Bible says, “Jesus loved Martha, and whatchamacallher, and Lazarus.”
Sometimes our circumstances talks to us and tells us that He doesn’t care!
Have your trials ever whispered to you saying “There’s no need to pray, God is not listening anyway, He’s not gonna hear you.” He was not there, even though He was conscious of what was happening.
In verse 7, Jesus begins a conversation with His disciples that went like this: “Then He said to His disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” “We’ve gotta go back to Bethany.” “Our friend Lazarus is sick, he is asleep.”
The disciples didn’t want to go back to that region, because the Jews were trying to kill them. They said, “LORD, the Jews tried to kill you there, “And thou goest thither again????”
Jesus said, “I’ve gotta go back. Lazarus is asleep and I’ve got to go wake him.”
The Disciples said, “Well, Lord, if he’s sleeping, if he’s resting, then he doeth well.” So Jesus plainly tells them that Lazarus is dead.
- He knew about their pain;
- He knew about their sorrow;
- He knew about every tear that Mary and Martha had shed;
- He knew when Lazarus drew his last breath;
- He knew when Lazarus closed his eyes and died.
YET – HE WAS NOT THERE!
So I ask you, What do you do when Jesus doesn’t do what you think He should do?
Everything that Jesus did was with purpose. When He spoke – it was with purpose. Every place He went – it was with purpose. And when He didn’t show up when they called – there was a purpose.
Now I don’t know about you, but I’m interested in knowing why He waited. Jesus is about 20 miles from Bethany (1 days walk). The servants came and told Jesus that Lazarus was sick. So Jesus abode there 2 more days. And after 2 days, He said unto His disciples, “Let us rise and go into Bethany.” (another days walk). So when you put that all together, Jesus was 4 days late!
When Jesus arrived in Bethany, Martha went out to meet Him and cried, “Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother would not have died.”
Notice, Mary, the religious one, didn’t even come. In fact, she didn’t come until Jesus sent for her.
I believe they were both upset because they knew that Jesus could have prevented this. And when Mary finally came out, and though she fell at the feet of Jesus, she said exactly what Martha said, “Lord, if thou hast been here.”
- “Lord, if you would have been here, you could have stopped this;”
- “Lord, if you would have been here, you could have prevented this;”
- “Lord, If Thou would have been here, my brother would not have died.”
But, He wasn’t there. Why did He wait? Let me give you 3 reasons why I believe He waited:
I THINK HE WAITED IN CONNECTION TO PEOPLE
If you study the traditional Jewish funeral, in Bible days, in that particular culture, you will discover that they buried their dead the same day that they died.
How many of you know that Andy Griffith was from Mt. Airy, NC (Mayberry)? How many of you knew that when Andy Griffith died at 7 a.m. the morning of July 3rd, 2012, that he was buried at 11 a.m. that same morning? Now, this was very unusual in our culture – but not for the Jewish culture.
Now they would wrap up their dead with linen, or grave clothes and bury them the same day they died. For the next 3 days, only the immediate family was allowed to come to the family home. The immediate family would hire professional mourners, grievers to come and mourn as an expression of respect for the deceased. For 3 days, only the immediately family was allowed to come.
BUT – on the 4th day! All the family would come; all the neighbors would come; all the friends would come.
Jesus waited until the 4th day! Look at verse 45 with me, “Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.”
Jesus didn’t say that He came to call the righteous to repentance, but the sinners.
So, on the 1st day, it’s not time. On the 2nd day, He didn’t show up. On the 3rd day, He’s not there. BUT, on the 4th day, when everyone was there, He arrived.
He was waiting for the people to arrive, because He knew that many of them would believe.
HIS WAITING WAS IN CONNECTION TO POWER
The Gospels record 3 separate occasions when Jesus raised the dead:
- He raised Jairus’ daughter a few minutes after she died;
- He raised the widow’s son a few hours after he died;
- And then He raises Lazarus, who had been dead for 4 days.
When Jesus told them to roll the stone away, they said, “Lord, he’s been dead for 4 days now, surely his body stinketh! For those that have difficulty understanding the old archaic language of the King James Bible, that meant he stunk!
When Christ raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and when He raised the Widow’s son from the dead, there were skeptics who said, “Well, this is no big deal, they probably were not dead anyway – they just thought they were dead. Lazarus, on the other hand, had been dead for 4 days. There was no question that he was dead.
You see, Jesus waited, and waited, and waited for the right opportunity to manifest His power!
Looking back over my life as a Christian, there have been many times in my life where it seemed He was not there. I look back over some of the storms in my life, some of the circumstances in my life, and my conscience says – God just doesn’t care.
But as I look back over my life, I understand now, and I realize now that through the storms of my life; through the valleys of my life; through the trials and tragedies of my life – He was creating opportunities to manifest His power: Let me illustrate this with a story that really hits home with me on a personal basis:
Kim and I started attending Freedom Biker Church in March or April of 2014. We didn’t know a lot of people, but soon after we started coming, there was a trip to Maggie Valley for the Thunder in the Smokies Rally. Kim and I went. We got to spend some time with some of the folks. On Sunday morning, we all attended services at a Baptist Church there. There was a young couple there by the name of JB and Julia being there. That was the first time we’d really gotten to speak with them one-on-one. And I enjoyed spending time with J.B. We all sat in the parking lot after the service for a while talking. Soon after that trip I had returned to work overseas, and I received the news from my wife that JB had been killed in a motorcycle accident. My first thoughts were sadness for Julia and for their two young daughters (who were the age of my granddaughters). What a tragedy I thought. In fact, one of the most devastating tragedies I believe we face on this earth.
But looking back on that tragedy now, I see how God turned what we thought was bad, into good. It was that single incident that JB’s Dad and stepmom into church; through that incident, we haven’t seen Julia waiver in her faith one time; through that tragedy, we have watched those girls grow up loving God. They know where their daddy is and they know one day they’re going to see him again. We’ve witnessed JB’s best friend, David and his wife Glenda, get in there and get involved with the Work of God.
Friends, that is God connecting His power!
HE WAITED IN CONNECTION TO PURPOSE
Verse 45 says many of the Jews that came to Mary, and had seen the things that He had done – believed on Him. But, not all of them believed.
Verse 46 tells us that some of them went back to the Pharisees and the Chief Priest and said, “We saw it with our own eyes. Lazarus had been dead for 4 days and Jesus called him by name and he came walking out of that tomb with the death clothes still on him.“
Let me give you this for free – Lazarus came out wearing his death clothes, cause he will die again and he’s gonna need them then. When Jesus came up out of the grave, He left his clothes laying there cause He will not be needing them anymore.
They told the Pharisees, “We saw it with our own eyes.” And the Pharisees and the Chief Priests said, “We gotta stop Him.” And the Bible tells us in verse 53, “Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.”
Now, remember at the start I told you I was slow, but I’m getting somewhere – so stay with me, cause I don’t want you to miss this.
This was the miracle; This was the event; that initiated an organized effort by the Chief Priests and Pharisees to Put Jesus to death.
By waiting 4 days, Jesus increased the magnitude of this miracle and this was the miracle that caused the chief priests to say “We’ve gotta stop Him.”
Folks, I hope you can see this – this was the single event in the Bible that caused Jesus to take a giant step toward Calvary!
His waiting was in connection with His purpose!
While Mary and Martha were walking the floor weeping asking “Jesus where are you? Why aren’t you here?” They didn’t understand that behind the scenes, behind the tears and the sorrow, there was a bigger picture. They didn’t know that Jesus had His eyes on Calvary!
You know, for a long time, I didn’t want a cell phone. In fact, Kim and I were about as anti-cellphone as they come. But when Kim started riding (and breaking down on the Big Dog – a lot), we figured we should probably get cell phones. And after a few months of figuring out how to turn the thing on, I started figuring out how to actually call people with it.
So, one day, my granddaughter is sitting with me on the couch and she facetimes me (and she was 7 at the time). WOW. So this picture pops up, and for the first time I can see with this phone. Then she showed me how to turn my phone sideways and the picture got bigger, and I was able to see even better. I was able to see things I hadn’t seen before. The bigger the picture got, the more I could see.
There’s a lot of things that I can’t explain; a lot of things that I don’t understand, but I want you to hear what I’m saying, and I believe this with all my heart:
- Behind every trial you face;
- Behind every valley you cross;
- Behind every tragedy you experience;
- Behind every tear you shed;
There’s a bigger picture, a bigger purpose, and you may not see it now, you may not understand it now. But one day, we will go out to meet our Heavenly Bridegroom and the vail will come off, and then we will know, even as we are known!
There may be somebody reading this post that is going through a storm and you are asking:
- Why Lord?
- You could have prevented this;
- You could have kept this from happening;
- God, Where are you?
What do you do, when Jesus doesn’t do what you think He should do?
I promise you this, behind that storm, behind that valley, behind that tragedy – there is a bigger picture. Have you asked God lately to help you see the bigger picture? If you have never asked Jesus into your heart, I want you to realize that Jesus took a giant step for you and for me. All you have to do is look to Jesus, and say, “Lord, I believe that you died for me. Forgive me of my sins and make me whole.”
Fighting for My Pea Patch 