What is your Lazarus?

John 11:1-44

The story of Lazarus is one that has been on my mind for a while now, so we’re gonna jump back into his story again this week. This is the question I want you to think about: What is your Lazarus? And if you’re confused about what that means or maybe you’ve not heard the story of Lazarus before, let me take a step back and do a quick review.

Mary, Martha and Lazarus were siblings who were followers of Jesus. At this point, Jesus had made enough people in Judea angry with His teachings and with proclaiming Himself as the Son of God that He would be killed if He was seen in the area. So, while Jesus and the disciples were on the outskirts of Judea, He received word that Lazarus was extremely sick, and the sisters asked Jesus to come heal him. But instead of immediately going to Lazarus, Jesus waited. He waited a couple days, then finally told His disciples they were going Bethany. The disciples tried to talk Him out of it but ultimately were willing to die alongside Jesus to fulfill His will if that’s what it came down to. As Jesus came to the city, Martha ran to meet Him and told Him that if He had been here, He could have healed her brother. But despite that, she demonstrated her faith in who Jesus said He is. She ran back to get Martha, who fell at Jesus’ feet weeping and saying “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (John 11:32). Jesus asked them to take Him to Lazarus’ grave, who had been buried for 4 days at this point, then Jesus stood at the gravesite weeping. Finally, Jesus cried out to God and thanked Him for hearing His prayers and called for Lazarus to walk out of the tomb. Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead, just as He was going to do Himself shortly after this.

So, back to my original question: What is your Lazarus? And by that, this is what I mean. What is it that you’ve been asking God for that He seems to be delaying an answer to? What is it that you’ve prayed about that it seems He’s just not come through on yet? What is it that you’re seeking deliverance from so desperately, but the deliverance hasn’t come? Or what is it you’re waiting on healing from, and you’ve not seen it yet? What is your Lazarus?

Maybe you’ve got more than one, I know I do. I can’t count the number of times when I’ve been going through a valley and I pray and ask God, “Just show up. Come heal this. Come deliver me.” But the valley just keeps on going and it seems like He’s not hearing my prayers. He doesn’t heal. He doesn’t deliver. Well, I’m here to tell you the good news: those lies that the devil tries to sneak into your head that God isn’t showing up, He isn’t healing, He isn’t delivering: that’s just not the case. Because God does show up. He does hear our cries for help. Our begging for healing. Our desperation for the situations we’re facing. And here’s the most comforting part about it: the answer is coming. The hard part is accepting the fact that His answer may not always be the one we’re looking for.

As I was reading through this scripture in my Study Bible, one of the commentary notes said this, “Jesus loved them, yet He did not rush to spare them grief.” I don’t know about you, but that five-letter word is one that I wish we could go without. Grief. Something that is so silent but also so loud. Something that can completely wreck you inside if you let it. The tough thing to come to terms with is the fact that following Jesus does not mean life is going to be a walk in the park. In fact, we’re told in the Bible that it means basically the opposite of that. It means that the devil is going to fight hard to steal your testimony. He’s going to work overtime to plant those seeds of doubt. He’s going to hit you from every possible angle to take your joy and wreck your peace. But God. You know, those two words together hold a ton of power. I was lost, but God saved my soul. I was hurting, but God gave me rest. I was troubled, but God gave me peace. And in Lazarus’ case, I was dead, but God gave me life. Sometimes we’re going to get hit with the grief. We’re going to have to take a walk through the valley. And sometimes, it’s going to feel like God’s taking His good, sweet time to deliver us, but we have to remember that God’s timetable is better than ours. Here is the promise that Jesus gave His disciples that we can also hold onto. “When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” (John 11:4) Yeah, we’re gonna get hit with the hard times, with the moments where we don’t think we’re going to be able to make it through. But those seasons don’t come without a purpose, and they don’t come alone. God promises He will always be with us, and just as with Lazarus, He shows that sometimes, those tough battles we face are going to be the very thing that God can use to bring glory to His name.