WATCH WORD!— A WHOLE NEW PERSPECTIVE ON ‘TRUE LOVE WAITS.’Maybe you are going through a brilliant refining process at the very time you thought you were getting blessed?There are just a handful of times where it is written “Jesus loved so and so,” but it is written, regarding one family: “Jesus loved Martha, her sister and Lazarus.” (John 11:6) When Jesus heard his friend was sick and that He needed to hurry and help him… Jn 11:6 says, ”He abode TWO DAYS STILL in the same place where He was.” Notice the sacred writer added “still.” No doubt the person who delivered the urgent telegram watched and waited and waited and returned and gave the report. “Did you give Him the message?” “He did what? He set up another day of meetings?”
This seeming indifference to their pain fed directly into the mouth of the accuser who whispered to the sisters, “if Jesus loved any of you, he would have come here sooner.” Therefore Martha said verbatim, “ Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” In other words—“if you loved him or loved us why did you let this happen? It didn’t have to be this way.”
Welcome to the wilderness. The place where you feel overlooked and forgotten. What you once longed for is so delayed or denied, you wrestle with thoughts you never had before. You question the very love of God for you. Is this so strange? This is what Mary and Martha wrestled with.
But what was the truth? So far from Lazarus being overlooked or unloved, the THING GOD DID NEXT, WAS GREATER THAN THE THING THEY WERE PRAYING FOR! — You wanted healing? Well Jesus healed everyone who came to Him…. nothing unique about that in His meetings. But this particular healing would be so dramatic, it was necessary for everyone to know just how far gone the patient was. This thing will glorify God.
PREPARE IN THE DESERT A HIGHWAY!
The Prophet John was called “to prepare a people” to be a highway for the coming of the Lord. Where is the highway formed? In the desert! Where is the desert? It is in the barren, untamed and uncultivated territory… in people.
It's “heart” stuff at a level we have not seen. Hence….”the spirit and power of Elijah” comes to “turn the HEART of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.” (Lk 1:17) What is the wisdom of the just? A new “heart” level obedience to what pleases the Father.
You may enter what seems like a wilderness season, but it is not what you think. It’s all about making you ready for something huge. Maybe there are things that need to happen IN YOUR LIFE to prepare you for what God wants to happen THROUGH YOUR life. Like Moses in the desert or Jesus in Nazareth, God often hides us away in the interest of something greater.
He draws us away from the things we are doing, in order to lead us into the better thing. The stuff He wants to do through us. Dare I say He even risks disappointing us in the things we wanted Him to do – so that He could shape us to do something greater for Him. Or in Lazarus' case, we become the sign that causes others to see the wonders of the Lord. Your reversal is a set-up to reveal His glory!
What do you think?