Faithimg
James Tissot, Jesus Wept, watercolor over graphite, between 1886 and 1894.
John 11:21-27
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Recently, I shared a message from John 11 at the children’s prayer meeting, and we watched the Lazarus cartoon on superbook(an American Christian animated television series). When Lazarus died, the atmosphere became very sad and somber. One child asked me, “why don’t they believe that Jesus can bring Lazarus back to life?” This question stayed very deep in my heart, and I realized that it was a very good question because looking at my life right now, I realized that this was also a problem within me.
Martha was the one who knew the Lord Jesus, and she and her sister Mary were the ones who loved and served the Lord a lot. Martha’s confession was, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God. So what’s Martha’s problem? It was not a lack of faith, but a need to build greater faith. The situation was that Lazarus was dead and had been for four days. The people had seen that Jesus performed all kinds of miracles, healed the sick and cast out unclean spirits. But now they had no faith in the resurrection, which is what the Lord wanted to see. Jesus wept(v. 35), his weeping was different from the weeping of others. While others wept because they were sad, Jesus wept because of their unbelief.
There are many Christians in this world, they have faith in Jesus and they love the Lord, but when faced with difficult, despairing circumstances, all they do is grieve and weep. It is not because of a lack of faith, they have faith in Jesus and they saw God’s work in their life before. But now it’s the time to build greater faith in the midst of difficult circumstances. If you believe, you will see the glory of God(v. 40). No matter how tough a situation you are experiencing right now, how long you have been struggling with an issue, remember the Lord’s question, “Do you believe this?” The Word of the Lord is powerful, and the promises of the Lord are faithful. “I am the resurrection and the life.” Nothing is more powerful than death, but The Lord raises the dead, and the Lord is able and willing to reverse the situation you are in, so do not give up and trust Him alone!
PRAYER: Father, let us not be bound up by our circumstances and our own thoughts, but trust in Your time and plan. You are the God who does not fail, and You are the God who loves us and You are Almighty. No matter how difficult our circumstances may be and how despairing they may be, we trust in you for you are the resurrection and the life. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. We put our hope in You, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
