Two days after Jesus heard that Lazarus was very sick, He left for Bethany to see Lazarus and his two sisters. When Jesus arrived at Bethany, Lazarus was already in the tomb for four days. There were already many people consoling Mary and Martha in their house, but when Martha heard Jesus was coming, she got up quickly to meet Jesus. When she met Jesus, she said to Him, "Lord, if You have been here, my brother would not have died. Even now, I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." Jesus answered, "Your brother will rise again." Then Martha replied, "I know that he (Lazarus) will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" Martha said to Jesus, "Yes, Lord, I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the word." When Mary heard of Jesus, she went to Him and told Him exactly what Martha said, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." (John 11:5-32).
The first time Martha and Mary saw Jesus, they told Him, "if you have been here, my brother would not have died." They immediately blamed Jesus for not being there with them. They presumed that if Jesus was with them earlier that He would have healed Lazarus. But their presumptions were not in line with Jesus' plan. Jesus had a completely different plan. He purposefully not healed Lazarus because He wanted to use this painful situation to show His glory. There are times when we put God in the box with our perception of Him and come to find out later that His plan and purpose are different from our perception. If we are not careful, we can start blaming God for not granting our prayer request.
God knows our situations and the pain that we are going through. When we continue to trust God in the outcome of our prayer request (whether he grant us our prayer request or not), we will be victorious at the end. God has a reason and purpose in every situation that He allows in our lives. We need to continue to trust Him because, in the end, we will know the entire reason, and it is for our own good.
Ask yourself these questions: What should I do when God allows something in my life that is difficult for me to handle? Why is it so important for me to trust God in my struggles?
Write down all the worries that you are facing today and lift them up to God.
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, thank you for always being there with my struggles. Please help me to continue to trust you because you love and care about me. May you protect my mind from my wrong perception of you. Please help me to trust in your Word and your promises. In your name Jesus, I pray. Amen.