Hopeless situations. Lazarus was dead. His strong body and determined will to live could not overcome his sickness. The doctors who treated his illness had given the family hope. His sisters had prayed to Jesus. Their faith in God had given them hope.
But now not only was Lazarus dead, but he had been in the tomb for four days. His sisters did not want to open the grave. By now, the body had begun to rot. It stunk. It was a hopeless situation.
You may think of the story of Lazarus as only a dead man being brought back to life. However, it is more than that. Still, it occurs to me that this is a story of Jesus’ ability to overcome the most hopeless situations. When Jesus arrived at Lazarus’s tomb, everyone thought He was four days late.
However, Jesus is never late. He waited until Lazarus was clearly dead. This allowed people to see and believe He is Lord over the most hopeless situations.
Many situations arise in our lives that appear to be hopeless. They may be caused by our foolishness or maybe things happen that are beyond our control. Our will to overcome is not good enough. Friends speak of hope, yet we feel despair. We have prayed but it seems Jesus doesn’t hear. Now our situation stinks worse than a four-day-old corpse and we are saturated by hopelessness.
No Hopeless Situations
Jesus said; “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die — ever.” Jesus can raise a dead man for the Glory of God. He can also handle your problems for the Glory of God. Bring your mess to Jesus, loose yourself, and let yourself go. I promise you this, in Christ, there are no hopeless situations.
From the Bible
“Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ——
Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
John 11:1-5, 40-44 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/jhn.11.2-44.NKJV
Douglas & Deborah Huff
From Down Where the Pavement Ends
Email- pavementendsministry@gmail.com
