Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

John 11:32

Mary and Martha had sent for Jesus. That was their prayer, their cry for help, “Come save our brother.” God purposefully doesn’t do as they are wanting. They want Him to come and touch their brother Lazarus and heal him from his sickness.

In the meantime, Lazarus dies. This was God’s plan, His plan for a greater salvation story. Mary and Martha had planned out what God should do. Jesus should come, now, and heal.

When Lazarus died, they could have thought, “God said no.” They could have said, “It wasn’t God’s will to heal.” They could have said, “It’s was Lazarus’ time to go.” They could have said any of those things we say when things don’t go as we want, when our prayers seem to go unanswered.

While they didn’t react with any faith when Jesus shows up, at least they didn’t kick Him out and shoo Him away. They don’t reject Him. They wouldn’t have gotten their miracle at all. They do, however, feel the need to point out His shortcoming in their eyes. Jesus cries at how they don’t even know Him or their good Father.

Having God with them should have brought rejoicing in their hearts. Having God with them should have produced hope and anticipation. Having God with them should have made them realize that not all was lost. Having God with them should have had them believing anything was possible.

But it didn’t. It was like they didn’t know Him at all.

How do you respond to God being with you? Have you ever felt rejected or discouraged, like God ignored your prayers? Have you ever wanted to accuse God, like the disciples did, “Don’t you care?” If you ever did as a believer, then you were like those standing there that day weeping over Lazarus when they should have been rejoicing about the miracle that was about to happen.

Are you living like God is with you? If Jesus walked in the room right now and stood with you, wouldn’t you rejoice that God had heard your prayers? Wouldn’t you know that all hope wasn’t lost, that God was going to act on your behalf and make things all better? Well, He’s there with you now. He’s closer than just in the room with you. He’s in you.

Rejoice! God has heard your prayers! He restores all things! He’s working for your good! Never grieve like one without hope. Hope is alive in you!

In the last post I mentioned Daniel. Let’s think about him a little more. He had been captured by a foreign army. He had been taken from his home with the other exiles. He served His God faithfully, but He was taken away.

What I want you to see in Daniel’s life is that he is unfazed. He is the same no matter what. What he does is the same, no matter what. Jesus is unchanging, and His life in us in unchanging. We can move through life steady on our feet. 🙂

Daniel is noticed for God’s blessing on his life. He is chosen for special training. He gets an education. He gets to serve the king directly. He puts his service to his God first and refuses to eat the king’s food. He will eat as the Lord directs.

He fears God not man. That’s a big key. Man is fickle and trying to please him or reacting to him will throw you off course; you’d have to go this way or that trying to bend to whatever their desire or demand of the day is. Fearing God and not man, keeps our eyes set like flint towards Jesus, our prize.

Daniel is given position and power. He stays steady.

The laws of the land demand his death. He remains steady. He does what he always does. His feet don’t stray from the path. He does what he always has done because that’s what he was supposed to be doing. He prays. He’s arrested. He’s delivered.

No matter what legislation comes our way. No matter what your boss, your leaders, your communities, your colleagues demand, you stay the same. Your mission, your purpose, your truth will not have changed.

Whatever you were supposed to have been doing yesterday, you should have been doing it. You should probably be doing it today too. Whatever you are supposed to be doing today, you should be doing it. If you should be doing it, you probably should have been doing it yesterday. It doesn’t change. We serve God and Him alone and He is unchanging.

Don’t let anything pull you off your assignment, off your focus on Jesus. Love Him alone.