Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” – John 11:40
Years ago when my daughter was doing an internship in Colorado, she called me one afternoon weeping uncontrollably. “Dad, I’m at a store right now and I’m okay. But I can’t talk right now. I just want you to know that I love you and I’ll try to call you back in a few minutes.” CLICK…. I was immediately hurled into a state of panic and my mind raced. “She’s in a store. So what is going on in the store? Is she possibly hiding because the store is being robbed by armed gunmen? Breathe, Scott. Breathe!”
My initial reaction was to immediately call her back. “But what if she has the ringtone on her cellphone turned up? I can’t give away her location! I’ll text her! Yes, I’ll text her. But wait… if her ringer is turned on, that means her text alert notification is on. Dammit! What can I do?!”
It was the longest 10 minutes of my life. I felt completely powerless. And yet while I desperately waited for my daughter to call me back that afternoon, all I could do was trust that God was still God in the midst of the most deafening silence I’ve ever experienced in my life.
(She did call back. She wasn’t in danger, but had just been told some tragic news about her best friend’s father right before she called me.)
Throughout the Bible there are numerous stories that illustrate God’s sovereignty and power over all things, and all people, at all times.
Jesus was close friends with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. He would routinely stop by and visit their home if he was traveling nearby. He loved them dearly. So after Martha sent word to Jesus one day that her brother, Lazarus, was gravely ill, that’s all she told the messenger to say. There was no need to tell him to come immediately. She knew that upon hearing this, Jesus would immediately make his way to visit Lazarus and heal him.
But that’s not how things played out.
John tells us in chapter 11 that upon hearing this news, Jesus exclaimed, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
Those unfamiliar with this story might find it shocking that Jesus didn’t drop everything he was doing at that moment to make his way to Lazarus. In fact, John tells us that he stayed where he and his disciples were for two more days.
One can only wonder what was going through Martha’s and Mary’s minds during this time. The following day, we can envision Martha asking the messenger, “Are you sure it was Jesus himself that you gave the message to? Are you certain he understood the urgency of the matter?” And as the hours passed with no sign of Jesus anywhere, and her brother finally succumbing to his illness, what thoughts might she have had about Jesus?
So two days later, after Lazarus had already been placed in the tomb, Jesus showed up. When Martha finally saw him coming, she ran out to meet him before he even got to her doorstep. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (v. 21) Jesus replied to her, “Martha, your brother will rise again. I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (Vv. 25-26)
After a brief conversation with Martha, Jesus met with Mary and all the others and grieved with them. Just a few days later, it would be non other than Mary herself who would anoint Jesus’ feet with an expensive bottle of perfume at their house. As soon as she met him on this day, however, she fell at his feet and cried, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (v. 32)
As they took Jesus to the tomb where Lazarus had been laid, Jesus was moved by all of the weeping and mourning he witnessed. He was so touched that verse 35 tells us, “Jesus wept” himself.
“But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Jesus had them remove the stone to the tomb. “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” After saying this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” (Vv. 41-43)
The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (v. 44)
Lazarus had been dead for four days. And yet in verse 40, Jesus reminds each of us, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
Like Martha and Mary, we find it incredibly challenging to have trust during the silence. But in those moments when we most need God’s intervention, what is our level of trust? Do we faithfully wait to see God’s glory revealed to us? Do we struggle to recognize that God may be using this time to glorify His Son through it? That we are subject to His timing and His plan?
Friend, trust isn’t needed if everything works out precisely the way we want it to and when we want it. No matter our circumstances, God will never stop being sovereign over all things, all people, and all events.
Even in the midst of our most deafening silence, God is still God.
Former Blackout Artist 