Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:20-26)
" + "When we look at our situations, everyone of can say this to Jesus: "Lord if you had been here…." Each event in our lives where something bad has happened to us or to someone we love causes us to make this statement. This is especially true during this season, when many people are absolutely miserable because they miss someone who they think should be there but is not. Many people will be depressed this "holiday season" because they think that God is not there. While other people have families and friends lavishing them with gifts and "love," (which it is not in many cases) just to go back right at the end of the season to become miserly and vengeful people they always were—some people will be by themselves, or at least feel by themselves. Whether we have folks in our lives or not, we feel something missing. The sin in us, our unwillingness to reconcile with God through study of his word, and believing the things he has said, makes us say: "Lord if you had been here…" Sin makes us think God is not around us.
" + "But the lesson in this scripture above causes us to reject the way we think of the Lord. Is he ever missing in action? Ultimately, we do not think God is not ever completely far away, else we would not make the statement "Lord if…" believing God could hear us. The thing that troubles us the most is that God does not always stop the things that make us hurt. Martha told Jesus that he had the power to stop Lazarus from dying. If only Jesus would have gotten there earlier, Lazarus would not have passed away. The same thing happens to us. We believe that God’s not doing anything is the reason why things happen. There are two things we need to consider, first is that God may want the thing to happen to us. Or, second, we caused the thing to happen to us, in which case, God still allowed it. In either scenario, God NEVER loses control.
" + "Just like in the situation with Lazarus. Even though Lazarus was dead, Jesus told Martha that he would rise again. The Master had declared his judgment. He said that Lazarus would not remain dead any longer. Regardless of the feeling Martha had, the declaration of the Master changed her circumstances. Even though she interpreted Jesus’ statement as a discussion of the future hope many Jews believed, that in the last day the dead would rise, Jesus showed her the mystery of the kingdom of God. God’s kingdom is here right now, we have access to God right now, even though we will not see him face to face until the end. The power to see God’s glory is ever present, which means that there is never really a time God misses something that happens. This is why God can say with boldness: "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear" (Is. 65:24).
" + "In order to sense God, we have to be willing to "Believe." Jesus asks us the same question daily, "do you believe me." And, like Martha, our actions betray our words, we say "yes" even the "no" in us is screaming inside. Here is the issue: are we going to quiet the "no," the feelings in us that move us to not listen and obey the voice our Lord? Or, are we going to submit. Are we going to listen to what the Master has said, and see his glory. His glory is available to us right now, resurrection is available to us right now; we just have to be willing to believe it.
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