What is the Good, God is Working in Romans 8:28?

 You don’t need to be around me long in any setting where a discussion of life and faith is present to know that I quote Romans 8:28 a lot. I don’t like to say I have one favorite scripture—the Bible is just too full of incredible passages to choose only one—but I do believe Romans 8:28 is a truth we must hold onto and turn to almost every day of our lives.

Suffering is a real fact of life. No one escapes life without seasons of trials and storms. Far too many Christians have yet to grasp the theological implications and aspects of suffering. To understand these truths, one must believe the biblical fact that God is sovereign. The Bible teaches repeatedly that everything in our lives—whether good or bad—is completely under the sovereign hand of Almighty God. As R.C. Sproul once said, "There is not one maverick molecule if God is sovereign." The Bible declares that God is sovereign. And that settles it.

Look at Romans 8:28:

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

We should never make Scripture say what it does not say. This verse does not promise that life will be easy or trouble-free. The Bible is clear on that. Jesus stated this truth in John 16:33, saying:

"In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

What a great verse and promise! But also within that promise is the assurance that we will experience tribulation. Romans 8:28 assures us that despite our sufferings—whatever they may be and for whatever reason they happen—God is working them for good.

But for what good? Most of us have been through things, or at least know people who have endured things, that seem to have no apparent good outcome. I could provide many examples, but I think we can all recall times when something happened, and we just couldn’t see its purpose or understand what good could come from it.

So, isolating Romans 8:28 from the rest of Scripture doesn’t give us the full picture. But I have good news—Paul answers that very question in the next verse. Unfortunately, many people spend so much time arguing over doctrine that they miss the answer, which is quite clear once you see it. And this answer explains suffering and why it even exists.

Take a look at Romans 8:29:

"For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren."

If you missed it, let me highlight it for you:

"To become conformed to the image of His Son."

So why does God cause all things to work together for good?

So that we would "become conformed to the image of His Son."

God is using every event in your life to do the work of sanctification. He is not wasting anything. Romans 8:28 tells us that God causes all things to work for this purpose. Even our sins, the sins of others against us, and the most painful experiences in life—God is using them to shape us into the likeness of Christ.

Your cancer, your grief over the loss of a loved one, your job loss, and every other hardship you face—God is using all of it to conform you to the image of His Son.

Our sole purpose is to glorify God, and the best way to do that is to become more like Christ. The most powerful witness to the world is when they see Jesus in us.

Romans 8:28 is my go-to verse when life overwhelms me with sorrow and fear. But understanding that everything happening in and around me is being used by God to make me more like Jesus helps me endure each day. My faith grows because I know what God is doing, even if I don’t always like it.

My prayer for all of you reading this is that you will make this promise of God real in your life. Memorize Romans 8:28. Study it. Meditate on it. Share it with others. Believe this truth and rejoice in it. It is truly life-changing.

All Things New

 This morning as I look out into the day, I see the sun is shining. The past several days have been dark and dreary filled with many periods of rain. It has been hard to get motivated. I think it could be easily said, it’s been a bit depressing.

But the way God works in the lives of His children, those who call Jesus Lord, is to work in the times of despair and suffering. Romans 5:3-5 explains this to us saying,  “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

We are called to rejoice in our sufferings, because it is in them that we are becoming like Christ. The Apostle Paul has written about suffering and resurrection in Philippians 3:8-11. Take a look.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

In order to know the power of resurrection, we must share in the sufferings of Jesus and become like Him in death. The transition of winter to spring is a picture of that process. Just as the seasons come and go here in the Midwest, so our lives have seasons of suffering and seasons of resurrection. But we have to die to be resurrected. 

The promises of God as found in the Bible are many. One of those promises is that we will have suffering. Jesus gave this promise in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Suffering is simply part of life. But we need not lose heart, for in the suffering and the death, comes resurrection. 

Just as winter is making way to spring, so is God working in the lives of His children. I close this morning with a promise from God.

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5 

This morning look out and see how God is making all things new. 

What To Do When Your Faith Is Tested

The world is in a crisis this very day. For the most part, there is nowhere one could go that the threat of sickness and even death, is not real, due to the corona virus situation. People are scared. The world has basically shut down and many people hiding out in their homes.

As a Christian, I am called to be different than the world. No, we Christians are not perfect, we still worry and get anxious, but to be Biblically truthful, we are not supposed to be afraid, nor are we to be anxious. We are all at different levels of spiritual maturity, so each of us will have our own struggles.

This begs the question, what are we to do with the current situation? What does this all mean? Why is this happening?

If you follow me on social media, you may likely know that I am one of those crazy Christians, who has the audacity to sat that this virus is a warning from God. I have always believed that the message of repentance is the correct one that ought to be preached. John the Baptist came out of the wilderness preparing the way for the coming Messiah, with this message saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” - Matthew 3:2. We see that Jesus began His public ministry with the same words, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” - Matthew 4:17. The call to repent is a serious one and I find no scriptural reason that we shouldn’t believe that we ought to be still preaching the same thing. The world we live in today has for the most part moved further and further from God and is very similar to the one we read of in Genesis 6, where man had become so corrupt, that God decided He would clean out mankind and start anew with Noah. We live in a world today that appears ripe for a cleansing.

No, I don’t believe God is going to wipe out mankind at this time, but I do believe that since we live in an age of grace, since the coming of Christ, and  that because “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.- 2 Peter 3:9, I believe God is showing His mercy in bringing a warning to this lost and godless world. The message to those who reject Him is simple; “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

But we Christians, though we all have things to repent of, are not guilty of the only sin that will lead you to hell, which is the sin of unbelief. We who are Christ’s have repented of that sin and are forgiven and have received the gift of eternal life.

Then what are we to do with this crisis?

The answer is simple and is found clearly in scripture. We are to see this as a trial and a test of our faith. Look at the Book of James and it becomes easy to see what we do.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” -

James 1:2-4  

We are to count it all joy. Clearly this is a trial and James tells us that trials of various kinds test our faith. I don’t know about you, but my faith is being tested. I’ve spent the last several years purposely trying to build my faith, for I know from past experience, difficult times come. But as hard as I’ve worked at it I still struggle. I’ve committed myself to a daily time of Bible study, have attended church regularly, joined a small group where I get encouraged, I’ve prayed and prayed that the Holy Spirit would guide me to greater faith, and made it my goal to believe every word that God has written down in the scriptures. But still as my faith is tested daily, I am struggling and fighting to avoid fear, anxiety, and doubt.

James tells us though that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. Steadfastness, if we let it have its full effect, will make us perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

These aren’t my words; these are the Words of God.  I know that because it says this in 

2 Timothy 3:16-17, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The answer to how we count this as joy, in the midst of uncertainty, sickness, and even death, is to lay hold of the truth that God is actually using these times, this pain and sorrow, to make us more like Jesus. James said that trials make us “perfect and complete” which would certainly describe Jesus.

I know this is hard. Some of us will face different levels of testing. I don’t know why God may test your faith differently than mine. Some of us will face tests that will seem impossible to bear and unless you keep your eyes on Jesus and you live in His strength, not your own, it may be impossible. But don’t try to do this alone. Let Jesus take you through it and believe what He has told us in the Bible. Moses had a message for Israel as they prepared to cross into the promised land and his message had a promise that is also ours. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." - Deuteronomy 31:6  

The same promise is echoed in Hebrews 13:5 which says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

I don’t know what the immediate future holds for any of us. I know what the end result will be for all of us who “let steadfastness have its full effect.” We will lack nothing and will one day soon be free from this broken and corrupt world that has sin and sickness beating us down. We will live in eternal bliss with our Lord and Savior for all of eternity.

I hope this encourages you to dig deeper into God’s word and learn even more of the joy and the peace we can live in until he comes back or takes us home. If you have trouble understanding and knowing what to do next, James speaks to that as well.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. - James 1:5-6  

When your faith is weak, turn to Jesus with whatever little faith you can muster up and go to Him in prayer. Believe God. If you do, then you will be able to do as James commands us to.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” - James 1:2-4  

May God richly bless you.

How To Get Out of Bed When Sorrow Makes You Sleepy

Whether you suffer from a life-long struggle with depression or you simply live life on this earth, most of us have known seasons of sorrow. These are those times when life just seems unbearable and you must battle to just even take another breath. One of the ways our bodies often deal with the stress that deep despair of mind heaps upon us, is to sleep. This morning as I read my Bible. I noticed something I had previously failed to see.

After the event we know as the Last Supper, Jesus headed out to the Mount of Olives, where He goes into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. I always knew that this was a deeply distressing time for Jesus, as He was about to go to the cross where the Holy, sinless Son of God, would become sin for us, paying the ultimate penalty we deserve. Read here Luke’s account of this event.

Luke 22:39-45
And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.  And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”  And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”  And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,

I had always looked at the disciples in this story as simply lazy bums, who leave their Lord alone in the garden to pray while they sleep. But Dr. Luke tells us that they were not just tired and lazy, they were sleeping for sorrow. They were broken within themselves. They were depressed, despairing, and probably felt a loss of hope. Not only had they finally woke up to the fact that Jesus was about to die, they had just learned that one of their own would betray Him. But even worse, Jesus had also told them that they too, would abandon Him in this hour of need. I get it. How often my own sin has reminded me of my own experiences of failing Jesus.

Maybe this very morning, you have woken up from sleep wondering how you will get through this day. Sorrow, despair, and feelings of failure permeate your mind. The truth is, this is of the devil. It is a spiritual attack. We are at war with our enemy the devil and he will tell you that all that despair is deserved and that there is no hope.

But Jesus has an answer to these times of sorrow and depression. He knows they are temptations of Satan, who does not want us to turn to God in these times, but instead he tells us to pull up the covers and just go back to sleep. If Satan can keep us in bed sleeping, he knows we will be ineffective as Christ’s disciples. So, listen to what Jesus has to say to us.

 Luke 22:46
“Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Rise and pray that you might not enter into temptation. Jesus speaks not only with authority here, but also with the credibility of knowing true sorrow. As Jesus faced the most sorrowful event ever in human history, He, like us, was in agony. Dr. Luke describes it; “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down.”

Prayer is the answer to rising out of the ash pit of true despair. It was the means by which God empowered Jesus to say, “Not my will, but your will be done.” For God hears the prayers of those who are His when they in humility come to Him in their despair. God even sends help.

Luke 22:43
And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.

Hebrews 1:13-14
And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?  Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

When we face the trials and temptations of this life, we can go to our Father in Heaven and He will give us the strength to face the day. He will even send angels to help strengthen us.

The story of Jesus in the Garden is a story of both sorrow and of victory over that sorrow. But we must pray and as Jesus did, pray fervently and earnestly. We must, as Jesus did, submit ourselves to the sovereignty of God having faith in the fact that He will bring us through.

I hope this morning; whatever trial you face you will wake up and go to your knees. Pray. And don’t be afraid or too prideful to ask others to pray for you. I will. Just let me know what prayers you need.

Be blessed.

Why the Bible Never Tells Us That Jesus Laughed

I was in the house of a Christian friend many years back and as he showed me the various pictures of Jesus that his wife and he had put up over the years, he showed me one of Jesus laughing and told me of all those pictures, that was his favorite. He thought my response was a bit strange when I responded by asking him if he knew that the Bible never speaks of Jesus laughing. We had a short discussion over this and he stated that he was sure Jesus laughed. Yes, I agreed that day, that certainly there were times of laughter in the earthly life of Jesus. Today, I am certain that Jesus did laugh, after all, like us, He was a human that experienced all the emotions we do. But I suggest that there is a reason why we can find no narrative in scripture that depicts a laughing Jesus.

Scripture does say that God laughs. But when God laughs in the Bible, it is a laugh of derision.

Psalm 59:8
But You, O LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.

Am I saying laughter is wrong? No, absolutely not. Though scripture does not say this, I actually believe that God has given us a sense of humor along with the ability to laugh, as a blessing to help us enjoy life and even at times, to carry us through times of suffering. Solomon tells us that there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh.” It’s clear in some of the stories of Jesus, that He had a sense of humor.

So, what’s my point? My point is simply this; The Bible does not show us a laughing Jesus because that is not the primary understanding of who Jesus is, or maybe better says was, as He walked this earth, that the Holy Spirit wants us to have.

This morning I was reading from a book that is a compilation of talks given by the great preacher, Charles Spurgeon, that reflect on communion with Jesus. In this message is a reminder of why our main thoughts of the emotional state of Jesus in His time on earth, doesn’t give us a picture of a laughing Jesus. Spurgeon speaks from the text of the great Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty-three. Let us take a look.

Isaiah 52:13-15
 Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.  Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.  Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.

Isaiah is speaking of Jesus. These scriptures, though they speak of the Gospel, the good news of salvation to us, ought to break our hearts. Though one day Jesus will be lifted up and greatly exalted, before we can see that day He had to be lifted up on a cross to pay the cost of our sin. Before the good news of the Gospel could be our gain, Jesus had to suffer in a way no man has ever suffered. Isaiah tells us that “His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.”

But even worse than that, Jesus suffered something He had never experienced in all of eternity; He had to be separated from God. Mark recorded the desperate cry of Jesus as He paid the ultimate price for us.

Mark 15:33-34
 When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.  At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"

This is the darkest day, the darkest moment of time ever in history. God forsake Jesus. You see, this is the price of our sin. Every time we covet something that isn’t ours, we offend the very holiness of God. Every wayward glance at another woman not our wife, every unkind and hurtful word we speak to another person, every time we worry, and every time we simply ignore what God called us to do, we deserve to be forsaken by God. Listen to how the burden of our sin affected the Lord Jesus as He lived out His time on earth again as Isaiah tells us.

Isaiah 53:2-3
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.  He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

This is Jesus, the very Son of God, King of Kings, the one who left the glory of Heaven where He eternally dwells with God. Despised and forsaken of men. One from whom men hide their face and esteem Him not. It gets worse.

Isaiah 53:4-6
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.  All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

Why is Jesus described a man of sorrows? Spurgeon reminds us that we esteemed Him not. We turn to our own way and esteem Him not. He was crushed for iniquities. Our sins did this.

Let us turn to the New Testament now and see that He was a man of sorrows.

Mark 3:5
 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.

Mark 6:6
And he marveled because of their unbelief.

Mark 8:12
And he sighed deeply in his spirit.

Unbelief and hardness of heart brought Jesus distress. His own friend and disciple would betray Him. But the truth of the matter is this; our sins took Him to the cross. Our hard hearts and our unbelief crucified Jesus.

Solomon also said this in Ecclesiastes 7:3
Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.

James expanded on it in James 4:9
Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

Wow. That seems depressing, doesn’t it? But before I close I want to remind you that Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:4 that “there is a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”

But before we laugh, we must weep. Before we dance, we must mourn. We must remember that it is our sin that made Jesus a man of sorrows.

What do we do?

Every day we have life we must weep over our sins and mourn the very existence of them. Then we confess them, we repent of them, and we cry out to Jesus for mercy and grace. Then and then only can we laugh and dance.

Spurgeon wrapped up his talk saying this, “If we were astonished at the marring of His face, we shall be much more astonished at the magnificence of His glory.”

Let us remember our Lord Jesus. Let us be astonished at His glory. But let us never forget that we made Him a man of sorrows.

Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 126

The greatest moment in our lives is that day in which the Spirit of God comes upon us and by our faith in Christ, we become born again to new life. If you have ever witnessed a real conversion followed by that person’s baptism, the person comes out of the water with a joyful countenance that is without description. But the truth of our Christian life is that the joy of salvation does not always shine upon us. The Christians life is filled with ups and downs. Our sin nature and the sin nature of not only the world, but of our fellow saints, brings pain and sorrow into our life. Though some commentators disagree, many believe Psalm 126 is a song of joy sung after the Babylonian captivity, which was a time of discipline in the Jewish nation.

Psalm 126:1-4

 When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream.  Then our mouth was filled with laughter And our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."  The LORD has done great things for us; We are glad.  Restore our captivity, O LORD, As the streams in the South.

When God has placed us in a season of discipline or we just happen to be caught up in someone else’s season, it can be heart-breaking. There will be tears. I’ve been there many times. You have as well. But God does not waste those tears.

Psalm 126:5-6
Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.  He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

The harvest of joy which will come to the Christian one day, is being watered by the tears we shed now. Some of us will reap joy in this life, but it is also possible that this life will never bring earthly joy. But to all who call Jesus Lord, whether it is when God calls us home in physical death or it is when Christ returns, there will be joy. And it will be a joy such as we have never experienced.

What do we do until God restores us? We wait on Him. We watch and pray. And we stay busy doing His work. We also sow in tears. We find our joy in Him. This requires faith. Lots of faith. And where does faith come from?

Romans 10:17-18
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

If we say Jesus is Lord and savior of our lives, then that is enough. Sow with tears, my friends. There is a day coming when you will see the harvest. It will be a day of joy unlike any you have ever known.

Amen. Come soon Lord Jesus.

Finding Joy Through the Transforming Power of Christ

We live in a throw away society. When something breaks we toss it in the trash and head to Wal-Mart for a new one. When things go bad we seek a substitution rather than a solution. There is no better example of this than marriage. Divorce rates have skyrocketed as people have given up on transformation. Instead they take the easy way out and look for another relationship when in truth if only they were committed to making changes in their own lives the marriage could be saved.

Jesus is all about transformation. The very concept of the cross is a shining example. In the day of Jesus no one would wear a cross as jewelry; it represented the cruelest and most vile form of death and punishment. But God chose it to bring salvation and life to those who will have faith in Jesus through His death on a cross. The cross is now a symbol of hope and salvation because through Jesus’ death God transformed the entire way we view death.

The way we handle pain is another example of our desire for substitution instead of transformation. As soon as we get a little pain we head for the medicine cabinet for relief through a pill. While I am not saying that is all bad, the ability to avoid pain has created in us an attitude that prohibits growth through pain and suffering. Listen to the Word of God as spoken by Christ in John 16:21, "Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.”

Jesus uses the example of childbirth to teach us a lesson. Jesus never says here that the woman’s pain is replaced by joy. Instead the woman’s pain is transformed into joy through the birth of the baby. Through the pain of childbirth comes a wealth of joy but the pain had to be endured first. If the pain, which any women who has faced it without benefit of the methods now used to block it, will tell you, is one of the worst pains one could feel. Yet a woman will continue to have children and face it again because she knows the joy of having a baby is worth taking the pain. This is an example of how we know that if we trust Jesus in our times of pain and suffering He will transform our pain into joy.

But there is a second part to get here as we look at the example of childbirth and that is that we must wait on the Lord. A woman is pregnant for nine months in which she will often be uncomfortable. Then later when the day comes she will labor for a good while until the baby is born. We must be patient in our trials and afflictions. There is a beautiful description of this in Isaiah 40:30-31 which says that “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

So we must wait on the Lord. But Jesus doesn’t leave us alone to wait. He has put His Spirit in us to live and to be our comforter and our power to go on in the pain. He has also given us the gift of prayer. After the teaching on the pain of childbirth Jesus speaks about prayer saying this in John 16:22-24, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.  In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.  Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

If we want our joy to be complete we must go to the Father in faith and in the name of Jesus. But sometimes it will seem as if He is not answering us; it will seem as if the pain continues on. In these days of sorrow and suffering we must open our Bibles and hear God’s Word so that our faith can stand strong. Read the story of Lazarus as found in John 11:1-44.  In this story we find the answer as to why sometimes it seems God has let us down.

In the story Mary and Martha have sent a message to Jesus informing Him that their brother was ill. Through prayer we contact Jesus as well with our needs. Jesus’ first response is to say “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (John 11:4). Sometimes God allows things to happen, even when we have prayed and asked Him not to, so that He will be glorified.

Jesus waited so long to show up that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. His body would have been a stinking mess. The situation to Martha and Mary seemed now hopeless. Does this sound familiar? Maybe today your personal situation seems hopeless and you think God has waited too long to answer your prayer. But finish the story and see what happens.

Jesus responds to Martha saying in John 11:23, “Your brother will rise again.” Even though Jesus already knew how the situation would turn out He felt the sorrow and the sadness of His friends and He wept alongside them. John 11:33 tells us just how much Jesus understood their sorrow telling us that “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.”

The story ends with a demonstration of the power of Jesus as He raises Lazarus from the dead simply by calling His name. It was His intent the whole time to do this but in order to build the faith of Mary, Martha, and the others who would see and hear of this, Jesus acted on His time, not on theirs.

My friends, the secret to joy is to trust in Christ no matter how hopeless the situation is. As Isaiah said it is “they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

To those who have accepted the free offer of salvation through faith in Christ, joy is always there, waiting to be taken hold of. But we must trust in God, we must wait on God, and we must let Him transform us through the power of the Holy Spirit, which scripture tells us also raised Christ from the dead.

 I leave you with a scripture reading. It is a reminder of our need to praise Him always, even when it seems He has not heard us, for He is coming. Until He arrives rest in faith and be filled with joy for nothing is too hard for Him.

Psalm 30:4-5
Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name.  For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.