My Ways Are Not Your Ways

In John 11 we find the famous story of the raising of Lazarus. You remember the story. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha and a beloved friend of Jesus. Word was sent to Jesus to tell Him that Lazarus was ill. Jesus, the text says, "stayed two days longer in the place where He was" (John 11:6). Then He told His disciples, "Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him" (John 11:14-15). They went and Martha told Him "If You had been here my brother would not have died" (John 11:21) and Mary repeated the same (John 11:32). Then Jesus went to the grave, and "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). The mourners' responses were interesting. Some said, "See how He loved him" while others said, "If He can open the eyes of the blind, couldn't He have kept him from dying?" (John 11:36-37). You know the rest. They told Him to let it go. "He stinketh" (John 11:39 - KJV). But Jesus called him from the grave and Lazarus lived again.

It's instructive to see the responses. Both sisters assured Jesus that if He had been there Lazarus wouldn't have died. Some of the crowd thought so, too. Jesus knew that. He intentionally stayed away. He planned for Lazarus to die. Some knew better than Jesus. If He had come when He had been called, Lazarus wouldn't have died. That's us, isn't it? We are on the verge of suffering loss of various kinds. We call out to God ... and He fails to come in time. He fails to heed our prayer. The loss occurs. And we tell God, "If You had been here my brother would not have died." What Jesus alone knew, however, was that He had a better plan. His plan was "that you may believe" (John 11:15). Indeed, it was His theme. He told Martha her brother would rise again and asked, "Do you believe this?" (John 11:23-26). When He prayed to the Father to raise Lazarus, He said He did it "that they may believe that You sent Me" (John 11:42).

Serious loss is a trouble we all face at some point. And serious loss is regularly a problem for us in our relationship with God. He fails to save us from it and, at our best, we believe at least that He could have. He just didn't. We fail to believe that He has something better in mind. We fail to trust Him. We fail to rely on His power and grace, His faithfulness, His goodness, His love. We replace Him with our own "better" wisdom that He failed to follow. To our own loss. We are promised good. We are also told that His ways are not our ways. Are we okay with that, or will only be satisfied if He bows to our superior ideas?