God loves us. In our pain and suffering we sometimes have difficulty in accepting and understanding His love for us and how it fits into the equation. What are you doing with His love for you?
John 11:29-36
29 And when she heard it, she *got up quickly and was coming to Him.30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “ Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”
We have been talking a lot about the death and resurrection of Lazarus being a representation of Jesus’ power not only over physical life and death, but especially over our spiritual life and death. I’ve discussed many times that our belief and faith in Christ is up to Him. It is our belief in Him that resurrects us, but He is the one who contains the power to do it. Here we see why. Here we see the motivation behind the Gospel of Christ.
Jesus loves us. God loves us. I’ve had people ask me, “how can a loving God allow such death and destruction on this earth?” We miss the fact that He has granted us freedom and safety from it! It is the whole point of the sacrifice of His Son! Too often we quote verse 35, “Jesus wept,” without understand why He wept. He wept because He loves us. His heart was breaking at the sorrow and pain everyone felt at the death of Lazarus. How much more do you think He weeps for any of us who are lost and dead? How much pain do you think He feels for you and me when we turn away and embrace a spiritual death?
Sometimes we get angry at God and curse Him, asking Him why He is allowing something to happen to us. We have seen both Martha and Mary tell Jesus “if only He had been there.” This is their blaming Him for not being there to save Lazarus, just as we blame God for not being there. Our sorrow doesn’t even compare to the way Jesus is “deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” If we remember earlier Jesus told His disciples that this is all so that God may be glorified. Even though this isn’t a story about punishment or discipline, I imagine the feelings are similar to a parent having to punish their child. Whether it is a solid spanking or grounding them so they cannot do something they really wanted to do. The parent knows that the punishment must be carried out although it pains them to see their child disheartened.
Similarly we must understand that God does not like to see us suffer. He does not enjoy seeing us outside of joy and happiness. This is why He suffered for us, so we don’t have to. Yet, we ignore what He has done, we suffer because of it, and then we curse God and blame Him for not loving us. How stupid are we? Whether or not we outwardly express our contempt for God in this manner or we hide it so deep within we don’t even recognize we are doing it, it happens.
What are you doing with His love for you?
