LAZARUS
PROFILES —-
RAISED BY A MIRACULOUS HAND
When everything seems to go wrong and your problems never seem to get better, do you wonder where God is? This is where Lazarus was. We meet him in the worst position any one of us can imagine being in—on his deathbed. But Jesus, a friend of Lazarus, was nowhere to be found.
Where was He? As it turns out, He was waiting for the right moment. Jesus was waiting for Lazarus to die so that He could show up and do something more miraculous than anyone could have guessed: raise him from the dead. And He is doing the same for us today. He is waiting for the right moment to do what only He can do—miraculously change things. God uses even our most difficult situations and experiences for our good and His glory.
THINK & PRAY
Read John 11:1-4, and notice Jesus’ response to Lazarus’s situation: “Lazarus’s sickness . . . happened for the glory of God” (John 11:4). It may seem hard to understand when we are right in the middle of a hard time, but this is still how God views our struggles—as opportunities for our good and His glory. If Lazarus never got sick and passed away, would he know God as “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25)? No, probably not.
During our hard times, let us pray and ask God for opportunities to know Him better and recognize that He is miraculously working in and using our struggles as a means to reveal Himself to us and teach us something about Himself. Even at his lowest point—dead in the grave—Lazarus was able to hear and obey Jesus’ clear voice and command: “Come out!” (John 11:43). He obeyed, and then he experienced the miraculous, life-giving power of Jesus. Pray for God to help you realize that He is at work in your life, especially on your hardest and darkest days.