It’s been a weird few weeks.
I’ve had people I love, actively pray for and believe in experience some
powerful success that came about without their planning for it to happen,
though they had laid a lifetime of ground work to prepare them for such an
opportunity. They just didn’t know quite
where they would land until a great opportunity landed on them. I am genuinely happy for them.
Yet I’d be lying if I didn’t say there is a part of me that’s
jealous, too. It’s not that I don’t want
them to experience those successes or have those things. I have, after all, prayed for those very
things! It’s more this sense that I’m
being left behind somehow, like the dreams God has laid on my heart may
actually be pipe dreams, like I’m somehow wasting away my time and my
life. Ever felt that way? Like everyone is passing you by and you are
struggling just to keep moving forward?
As I prayed about it, God gave me a passage to read in John chapter 11.
You’ve probably heard the story of Lazarus, the guy Jesus raised
from the dead. I wondered why, of all
passages, I was feeling nudged to read this one in particular, but obediently I
opened up my Bible. I was about halfway
through the story when it struck me: no one there knew or even understood that
Jesus was about to raise Lazarus from the dead.
Slowly, I began to see another story emerge.
Mary, Lazarus’ sister, had hoped Jesus would heal her
brother. She didn’t actually accuse
Jesus of being neglectful by not getting there sooner to heal him (something
she knew He could do), but she still
made her viewpoint known that Jesus could have produced a different
outcome. Perhaps in her mind Jesus
had come to the rescue for others, but hadn’t been able to do the same for her
family, her brother. This is the same Mary, by the way, who had
washed Jesus’ feet with her hair and tears and anointed His feet with expensive
perfume. Clearly, she loved Jesus
deeply. But I can’t help but think a part
of her wrestled with feeling like He had failed her and left her in the dust.
The connection is obvious.
Jesus’ timing is not my timing.
He doesn’t answer in the ways we think He should or even when we think He should. Yet He does answer, and often in remarkable
ways. I am sure neither Mary nor her
sister, Martha, had any idea that Jesus planned to raise their brother from the
dead that day. They were beside
themselves with grief, assuming the end had come. They couldn’t yet conceive of exactly what
the Christ could do. But Jesus performed
a huge miracle, one that changed the trajectory of His ministry (and ultimately
triggered the beginning of the end for His life) in order to perform this extraordinary
act for people He loved in a most unexpected way. I’m watching Him do this for my friends. Yet I know He’s reminding me He will do something
in my life, too—and in yours!
If, like me, you find yourself comparing your life to others and
you feel like you keep pulling the short end of the stick, remember God has
something special waiting for you. It
may look differently than you’re expecting, and the timing of it may land later
than you’d like, but it’s coming your way regardless. If comparison is the thief of joy, doubt is an out and out killer--of dreams, of belief, of action, of forward movement. Today, choose faith and choose life.
For Further Thought: “For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you
and not to harm you,” (Jeremiah 29:11). “My
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” (Isaiah
55:8). What are you having a hard time
surrendering in your life? Spend time in
prayer this week reminding yourself of all the ways God has been faithful to
you. Write them down if you have time so
when you doubt, you can look them over and be reminded of God’s great care of
you.
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