Disclosing More of Him

“Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’”

-John 11:40

Ok.  Have you ever had a time when you were frustrated?  No, wait- downright angry at a situation?  I am taking a class in school this year that has really been “testing my patience.”  I want to do my best, and yet it seems like it’s still not good enough.  Been there before?

This past week was particularly hard.  As I was doing my quiet time, God showed me something really cool through my Bible study.  It was talking about the death of Lazarus in John 11.  If you have read the story, you may remember that Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters, sent Jesus a message saying that their brother was dying.  Jesus didn’t come to them.  He waited several days before finally coming to see them.  By the time that He got there, Lazarus was dead and had been for four days (John 11:39).  Both Mary and Martha went to Jesus and told Him that if He would have come sooner, their brother would still be alive. The study says this:

“Then the Spirit of God began to help me understand something.  It seemed to me as if Jesus had said to Mary and Martha: ‘You are exactly right.  If I had come, your brother would not have died.  You know I could have healed him because you have seen me heal many times.  If I had come when you asked me to, I would have healed him.  But you would never have known any more about Me than you already know.  I knew you were ready for a greater revelation of Me than you have ever known.  I wanted you to come to know that I am the resurrection and the life.  My refusal and My silence were not rejection.  They were opportunities to disclose more of Me to you.’”

Wow.  When I read that, I thought about my class and how difficult it’s been.  Maybe God is going to use this class to disclose more of Himself to me!  That would be worth going through a hard time for!  The next time you are going through a tough time – or if you’re going through one now – remember this story.  Remember that God may be showing you more of Him.  Remember that God is always there and, as our pastor says, “We just have to look for Him.”

In Christ,

Macy