“If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God” (John 11:40)

There is a culture today that wants what it wants, and they want it now. Waiting is not an option. Especially when impending trouble is on the rise, when help is desperately needed or need direction is desired. Waiting for many is like the kiss of death. Our scripture passage today Jesus reminds Martha of her profession of faith when she came to Him desperate for help while her brother Lazarus lay dead and buried in a tomb (vs. 20-27). Martha was aware of the healing power that Jesus possessed. She had heard His teachings and maybe even witnessed some of His healing miracles. Martha even believed in the resurrection of the Jewish faith. But she was in a desperate time and needed help for her grieving heart. It was a helpless time for Martha because she believed Jesus was too late. When her brother lay sick and ill unto death, she believed Jesus could have helped him and healed him. Had He not delayed, she believed her brother would be alive. The hope of the resurrection of the dead that Jesus spoke to her was not the reality she wanted to hear. She thought, only had He not delayed this would not have happened. But Jesus delayed that her faith could be made a reality. He used the opportunity of Lazarus’s death to glorify the Father and deepen her faith to a greater reality. He would transform her faith from knowing that Jesus could, to believing that Jesus is. The four days of helpless silence had prepared her to receive Christ as her reality. My friend when God seems silent know that He is still working to bring your faith to a new reality. God’s silence is not to dishearten you but to bring you to a new level of intimacy with Him. Keep the faith. Keep looking to Him to show up and answer your desperation. “If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God.” Father, thank you for the deep abiding love that You have for each of Your children. Help us to wait patiently and faithfully, with the assurance “that He who begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php 1:6). Father, do Your good work, even when we don’t see it and prepare our hearts for the greater reality that is in Your Son, Jesus Christ. In the blessed Name of Jesus. Amen.  

 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. (Luke 6:36)

I pray you were blessed and encouraged in your worship on the Lord’s Day in your local church. Hearing the word of God strengthens and encourages the child of God to live by faith and light the way in a world filled with so much darkness. Too often people choose to live in the shadows of their past, bound in the darkness of mistakes, misfortunes, and failures, with seemingly no way out. Our scripture passage declares to us that our heavenly Father “is merciful.” He is a “God of mercy” (Ps 59:10). “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy” (Ps 103:8). When Jesus walked on the earth, He demonstrated mercy as He went about healing and casting out demons. On one occasion two blind men cried out to Jesus “Lord, have mercy on us…and moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight” (Mt 20:30-34). On another occasion, He wept when He saw the people’s sorrow that Lazarus’s death caused (Jn 11:33). He demonstrated His greatest mercy to those with spiritual needs. He healed the paralytic and forgave his sin (Lk 5). And while hanging on the Cross, dying for the sin of the world, He prayed for those who crucified Him saying “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). In each of these occasions Jesus experienced compassion for the needs of others and expressed the “tender mercy” of the Father’s love. My friend, God has demonstrated His love and mercy towards us in that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). We who receive salvation through Jesus Christ, also receive His mercy and are called to “be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” Those who receive God’s mercy should demonstrate His mercy through their daily living. Today, think on the mercies that God has for you and be moved with compassion towards the needs of others. “Through the tender mercy of our God…give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Lk 1:78-79) that they may come to know the forgiveness of sin through salvation in Jesus Christ. Father, thank You for Your tender mercies and the forgiveness of my sin. Open my eyes to the needs of others and move me with Your Spirit of compassion that others may know Your love and gracious, tender mercy. In the blessed Name of Jesus. Amen.