I
recently heard a sermon about the resurrection of Lazarus (John Chapter 11).
Here is a synopsis: Lazarus was a friend of Jesus. Jesus heard that Lazarus was
dying. He waited until Lazarus was dead and then went to visit his family. Then
Jesus went to the tomb and restored Lazarus back to life. However, Lazarus was
still bound and wrapped like a mummy. Jesus left the task of unbinding Lazarus
to others.
The
sermon ended on an unsatisfactory note for me. Why did Jesus wait so long and
allow his friend to die? And what practical message am I supposed to get from
all this?
I
have encountered several situations that seemed beyond hope—marriages that were
so broken, addictions that were too far gone, illnesses that were past healing,
messes that were beyond restoration. I’ve often wondered why God allows things
to get so far beyond redemption!
Maybe
if he intervened any earlier, we would imagine we got ourselves out by our own
power?
Even
though God restores life, he leaves the ‘unbinding’ for others to do. There is
not much point in resurrecting someone if he/she remains in bondage! When God
restores a broken marriage, or heals addictions or sickness, or cleans up
horrible messes caused by character flaws—how are we supposed to unbind these
individuals? They may not be able to disentangle from their constraining habits
without assistance.
Reach out with
compassion, extend grace, forgive, bestow unmerited trust. Grant them light,
breathing room, and acceptance.
"Reach out with compassion, extend grace, forgive, bestow unmerited trust. Grant them light, breathing room, and acceptance." is what I know I should and must do to free myself and yet, it feels like my own character flaw when I struggle and must continually to remind myself this is what my job, as God's child, should be.
ReplyDeleteI must remind myself I am not put here to judge, even though it affects my own life that I was given by God. I pray daily for help and ask others to pray for me for strength when my emotions make me feel again like the abused wife, hoping things will be different this time. Do I wait until God really has cleaned up the horrible messes caused, praying for God to help this/these individuals that deliberately hurt my family?