Good Morning Gorgeous,
It’s a brand new day. A fresh start. A new dawn to revel in God’s goodness. The day is a new opportunity to walk in the direction that God is calling you. He has gooood plans for you. Today’s verse of the day in the Bible App is:
The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. But I came so that they may have life and have it more abundantly.
Jesus shares this with His followers, and then describes Himself as the good shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep.
And then what happens in the next chapter is a miracle of epic proportions!!!!! He demonstrates this very verse in real life. He gets news that Lazarus, whom he loves very much, is sick. Lazarus is the brother of Martha and Mary(the one who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume.) He deeply loved this family.
When He gets the news, He travels to Lazarus. He tells the disciples on the way that Lazarus has died, but reassures them that he will rise again.
As he enters the town, Martha runs to him and tells Him that if He had only been there, her brother wouldn’t have died. She in great faith also declares that she knows whatever He asks the Father will be done. Even in the midst of her brother’s death, she has hope and trust in Jesus and His power to do the impossible.
He gets closer to the home of Lazarus, and Mary tells Jesus almost the same thing, “Lord, if only you had been here!”
Jesus asks to go to Lazarus. He asks that the grave be opened and the stone get rolled away. Martha protested. She tells Jesus that Lazarus had been dead 4 days already, and the grave would stink. Jesus reassures her:
Jesus calls Lazarus forth! And he comes out of the grave still wrapped in burial clothes!!!!
The people were amazed, the Lord was glorified, Lazarus was restored to life, and Jesus reverses what the thief had robbed. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.. he robbed Lazarus of his very life. Jesus comes and restores it. He comes to give life, and life even more abundantly. I imagine Lazarus’s whole life was markedly different after being dead four days and then coming back to life. I imagine he did not return to the same patterns as before, but was a renewed man filled with faith and purpose.
How many times have we asked God a similar question to Martha and Mary’s question: “Lord where were you when this was happening to me or to someone I love? If only you had been there, you could have stopped the tragedy. Why didn’t you intervene?” I have wept those questions to Jesus.
This story illustrates that Jesus restores what is lost. He undoes what the enemy kills. He redeems, restores, and gives us life. He can give back what was lost. He can do the impossible when we trust Him in great faith.
Mary and Martha show us Jesus’s patient heart and His grief over their pain. Jesus told his followers on the way to Judea where Lazarus was that he had already died and that it was okay because he would rise again. But when he got there and Mary and Martha were grieving and asking why he wasn’t there, he didn’t get angry or defensive. He wept. He was moved by their deep grief.
You can ask God the hard questions. You can come to Him with your deepest hurts, your darkest thoughts, your scalding pain and disappointments. He can handle your emotion, and He can still restore back to you. He can still make beauty from ashes. He can still work good even in the midst of darkness. Regardless of what the enemy has stolen from you, He can redeem what is lost. Lean into Jesus. Pour your heart out onto Him. He came so that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this illustration in the bible that shows your deep love for your people and our emotions. Thank you that we can come to you with the hard questions on life. Thank you for coming and restoring all that is lost. Touch us today with peace and restoration. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Blessings!
Vanessa Lynn
