Just Let Him Die - John 11:5-7

"Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after that, He said to the disciples, 'Let's go to Judea again.'"

Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick and so He stayed where He was two more days...

What?

These verses are, of course, from the familiar story of the raising of Lazarus. But at first glance, Jesus' behavior in response to the news of Lazarus' terminal illness is somewhat puzzling, even enigmatic.

You would expect the story to go something like this: Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters so when He heard the news that Lazarus was very sick, He stopped what He was doing and rushed to Lazarus' side to heal him.

Instead, Jesus stayed where he was and let Lazarus die!

That's right. He just let him die!

This may sound harsh, but Jesus clearly intended not to arrive at Lazarus' home before he died.

However, Jesus held a different perspective on the situation than did Martha and Mary and the disciples. Jesus said: "This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it" (vs. 6).

So Lazarus died and his body was prepared for burial and placed in a tomb before Jesus arrived to solve Lararus' health problem.

It seems that the best way that God's power and glory could be revealed to the disciples and the family of Lazarus was for Lazarus to die (and for Jesus to raise him from the dead)! Isn't that basically what Jesus told His disciples?

And it's still the same way with us and the personal problems we face and the issues that we harbor in our lives. Sometimes God waits to help us with our problems until His power and glory can best be revealed.

That usually means something in you needs to die. That usually means there's something in your life you need to surrender to God. Maybe it's willfulness, arrogance, overconfidence, sin, apathy....whatever needs to die in your life so that God can have control over your life and be your source of strength for everything in your life.

We know that when God is in control of our lives and our source of strength, then we can live abundant and eternal lives. Jesus said: "I am the resurrection and the life, The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die--ever" (vs. 25-26).

But when problems come, the first thing we do is pray for God to intervene and deliver us from our problems, all the while formulating our own solutions. We expect God to show up immediately and solve our problems or else we will fix it our own way.

Sometimes God answers quickly, but more often than we would like, God waits.

God sends a solution to our problems at a time and in a way that will best demonstrate His power and His glory.
     God sends a solution to our problems only when we are ready to accept and trust His heavenly solutions!

God waits to solve our problem until we're ready to receive His solution!

"If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it" (Matthew 16:24-25).