This week’s devotions are based on the message: “Overcoming Death” Week 5 of Signs (LISTEN HERE)
If only…
Have you caught yourself saying this phrase with a hint of regret to what you didn’t do in the past and now you are dealing with the ramifications in the present?
If only I had finished college…
If only I had listened to my parents…
If only I had not had the last two drinks…
If only…
This phrase is a phrase of regret and disappointment. We can use it with things in life we wish we could rewind the clock and do differently. It is also a phrase that we can use to be subtly accusatory to someone else.
If only you had not turned in front of me…
If only you would have been on time…
If only you would have said something different…
It is also a phrase we can use with God with a tinge of question and perhaps a bit of disappointment that God didn’t act in the way that we wanted him to.
God, if only you would have healed my family member…
God, if only you would have led my boss to give me a raise…
God, if only you would have created me with different abilities…
As Jesus came to the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, Lazarus was already dead for four days.
John 11:21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
True enough. Martha knew that Jesus had the power to heal her brother. If only Jesus had come sooner. If only Jesus had been closer. If only Jesus would have said, “Lazarus be healed.”
But he didn’t…intentionally
And perhaps Martha knew that. While she was saddened by her brother’s death, she had confidence Jesus COULD have done something. But she didn’t say, “If only…” with blame or despondency, but it certainly seems that it was with confidence that Jesus had the power to heal her brother. She wasn’t upset. She was confident. She continues: (John 11:22), “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
Martha trusted that Jesus was the Son of God and the Father in heaven would give him whatever he asked. She didn’t know if he would ask or what he would ask for, she was just as confident that if he could have healed her brother, Jesus could do something even now.
What an amazing confidence. In the midst of loss, disappointment and grief, Martha had the calm confidence that Jesus could have done something, but he didn’t and could do something if he thought it was best.
I don’t know what you are going through today. But perhaps this couplet of phrases from Martha the Spirit of God preserved to give us a way to express our trust in the Lord. We can be confident of two things:
- The Lord is ALWAYS able to do something. He could have healed Lazarus. He could raise him. The power of the Lord is always available.
- The Lord determines when and how to act according to his will and purpose and what is best for each of us or in his wisdom use our situation for the benefit of others.
Jesus was intentional. He waited and didn’t heal Lazarus because he was setting up the opportunity to convince Mary, Martha, his disciples and others that he was the Son of God and had power over death. He could be doing similar in your life today!
Apply: What do you wish the Lord WOULD have done in the past? What good has come from the fact he DIDN’T act in the past, but perhaps worked in a different way than initially you wanted him to?
Prayer: Lord thank you for the power to act at any time and any way. Lead me to always trust with confidence that if and when you act is always what is best for me and your plan of salvation. AMEN.