Looking for Lazarus

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

(John 11:1-6)

You never know when God is going to drop a lesson into your life.

Yesterday it was my turn for Children's Church. The lesson was a familiar one - Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. I had gained several new insights during the preparation, and the lesson went well. I was coasting down the home stretch when I was hit head-on with an amazing truth. As the kids worked their word find and the teachers waited for church to dismiss, my bright students were struggling with a word. They kept saying they were "looking for Lazarus". Jokes soon ensued about whether he was in the tomb or not. But my mind was hung up on that phrase.

Looking for Lazarus. Mary and Martha - and the disciples - knew Jesus. They had confessed Him as Messiah, expressed faith that He could heal, and embraced the truth of future resurrection. But they weren't aware that He would be revealing His glory in the remarkable here-and-now. They didn't realize that what they knew about Him was about to be taken deeper. Soon, anyone who would go looking for Lazarus wouldn't go to the tomb - they would go back to the home. They would find him in his favorite chair, or working in the woodshed. Lazarus would forever be a reminder that we will never have God "figured out". We may fully believe in who He is, trust His wonder-working power, and look gloriously to the future - and still get blown away. Because He reserves the right to choose how to reveal His glory.

Looking for Lazarus.What is the Lazarus in your life right now? Is it an illness, an unsaved loved one, a financial crisis? The Lazarus in your life is that point at which you have expected God's intervention in a certain way - and He hasn't shown up yet. That point at which you are waiting two more days. That point at which He shows up to your relief, and yet your heart cries, "If only You had been here...." The point where you have the opportunity to trust His heart when you don't see His hand.

Looking for Lazarus. God is always up to something. He is always at work around us, as Henry Blackaby points out. Our job is just to see what He is doing and join Him in it. That requires eyes to see beyond today's understanding of Him, into the supernatural revelation of who He is in a new, deeper way. To trust His sovereignty and His goodness and His heart of mercy and His supremacy. To know that He is for us, even if He doesn't show up in a manner that fits our preconceived ideas.

Looking for Lazarus. When you're in the role of Mary and Martha (or Lazarus himself), the key verse in the passage is verse 5: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." He loves you. He loves your loved one. And He hasn't stopped being FOR you.

Keep looking for Lazarus. Because in the Lazaruses of your life, you will encounter Jesus in amazing ways ... ways that tear down the walls of every box you could possibly put Him in.