The Other Side
Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. John 11:21
If – Do we really have any clue what God is doing in the circumstances of our lives? Consider poor Martha. Her brother dies. Her life is thrown into tragedy and chaos. Nothing seems to make sense, especially the fact that she sent a message to Jesus in plenty of time for Him to arrive and heal Lazarus. But Jesus did not come. What is she to think? Perhaps Jesus really didn’t care? Maybe He was not such a powerful healer after all? Are some things are just beyond His ability?
Aren’t we like Martha? Lord, if You had just shown up a bit earlier in my life, this tragedy could have been avoided. If you had just come when I called the first time, I would still have my job. My child would still live. My home would not have been destroyed. My wife would not have left me. We see our circumstances through a lens coated with personal expected solutions. We forget that God is never late.
“If,” says Martha. The Greek is ei. Such a tiny word, but what a difference it makes. Ei is the Greek for “hypothetically.” It is the word that expresses something that can’t really happen but can be imagined. It stands in opposition to ean, a word that means “a condition that must be determined by experience.” Martha is saying, “I can imagine that things would have been different, but that can’t happen now. It is only an imaginary possibility. Reality has eliminated it really occurring.”
Our view of life stumbles on the “if” equation. “If” things had only gone the way I wanted them to, but now it’s too late. Jesus is not subject to the “if” equation. Do you realize that Jesus intended Lazarus to die! It was not an accident that He arrived “too late.” Jesus was being obedient to the will of the Father. He knew what the Father wanted before Lazarus died and He acted only on that will so that the Father would be glorified. We would have prayed just the opposite – “Don’t let him die.” We do not understand what God is doing when we use our commonsense to try to see His purposes. Jesus is never confused about the situation. At the tomb, He prays aloud only so that those around may hear. He already confirmed the Father’s will before He took a single step toward Bethany.
The biggest difference between Jesus and the rest of us is found in this tiny Greek word. Jesus does not live a life of trial and error. Present circumstances play no part in His view of reality. Jesus hears and obeys. He is the true Israel, the only One who fully embraced the great shama. Life for Jesus has no borders.
What do you suppose your life would be like if you actually obeyed every single word given to you by God? Do you suppose your spiritual radar would dramatically improve? Do you think that life’s confusion would diminish? Would you have ears that always hear? If you want to know God’s mind, you must first obey God’s will. Stop asking “Lord, show me what this means.” Start obeying the very next thing God whispers to you. Surrender absolutely. Then the hypothetical can become real.
