Love to hear from and know who is listening
Do you ever feel like God doesn’t care? Someone says, “God is good.” And you respond, “All the time!” And yet part of your heart isn’t tracking. If God really cared, wouldn’t things be better? Sometimes we face some really tough stuff in this life: a loved one dies in a tragic car accident, you have a child that is born with a terrible birth defect, the company you work for eliminates your job and you are suddenly out of work, your marriage collapses after you have prayed and worked hard to save it. Each one of these things have happened to me personally, my nephew Clinton was killed in a car accident at 18 years old. My son Jerry Craig was born with a rare genetic disorder and died at 3 months old. The company I was working for sold out to another company and told me they had eliminated my job. My first wife left me even though I prayed and tried desperately to save our marriage.
Is God good? Is He good when you still don’t have a job after a year of looking? Is He good when your spouse refuses marriage counseling and serves you with divorce papers? Is He good when your child dies! Is He good when the doctors say, “There’s nothing more we can do?” In your mind you believe God is good. All the time. But your feelings just can’t catch up. Your mind tries to say it’s true, and you try and speak positively about how God is always there for you. But when you’re alone and the problems mount up, if you’re really honest with yourself, you might think, how can a good God let all these terrible things happen to me! Whether you say it out loud or not, sometimes your head and your heart find it hard to believe that God is good! Mary and Martha the sisters of Lazarus must have felt this way when their brother died. According to John, Jesus receives a message that Lazarus is ill, and his two sisters needed his help. Jesus then delays his departure for two days. When He arrives in Bethany, Lazarus has been dead and buried for four days. Before they enter the town, Martha, comes to meet Jesus and tells him: "if you had been here, my brother would not have died".
John 11: 17-22 NIV On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
When Martha and Jesus get to Lazarus home, Jesus is met by Mary and the people who have come to console her. Upon seeing their grief and weeping, Jesus is deeply moved. Then, after asking where he was buried, the shortest verse in the entire Bible is found - Jesus wept! After that, Jesus asks for the stone of the grave to be removed, but Martha interjects that there will be a smell. To which Jesus responds, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" Martha knew without a doubt that Jesus was the son of God and even in his presence she still had doubts!
Then Jesus looked up and said: "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I say this out loud for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The ultimate purpose for Jesus’ delayed trip to Bethany was so He would be glorified. Even though Mary and Martha must have felt like God didn't care, because Jesus delayed coming when their brother was dying, He knew their heart and heard their pleas and he knows your hear
