Unexpected Help
Ruth Ann Stites, Staff Writer
The other day I was getting ready to leave the house in my car. I walked around in front of it and saw one of the green and bronze lizards who enjoy my front yard. It was in line with the front tire. Not wishing to run over the little creature I picked up a small branch to poke at the ground near it to get it to move. With a bit of encouragement, the lizard finally moved to safety well beyond the car’s path. My good deed done for the day, I was about to drive away when an idea struck me. Are we not much like that lizard? How often have we been in danger without being aware of it? How many times have we been prodded by circumstances into a favorable position without knowing what was going on?
You have doubtless heard tales of accidents avoided because of a delay or of something important happening because something else went wrong if you have not experienced it yourself. One of the most dramatic accounts of this principle in action is the resurrection of Lazarus of Bethany from the dead. We find the account in John chapters 11 and 12. Jesus received a message from His friends Martha and Mary that their beloved brother Lazarus was ill. “When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it’” (John 11:4, NIV). He waited two more days before He told the Disciples He was going back to Bethany.
The Disciples remonstrated with their Master since the Jews had tried to stone Him there not long before. But Jesus insisted, and finally told them, “… ‘Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him’” (John 11:14-15). The Disciples, still in fear of their lives as well as His, followed Him back to comfort the bereaved family or so they supposed.
Martha, upon hearing Jesus was coming, ran to meet Him. Here is John’s account of this encounter:
“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” (John 12:21-27).
You recall the rest of the story, how the Jews followed Jesus, Mary, and Martha to the tomb? Jesus mourned with them before asking to have the stone before the grave rolled away. Reluctantly His command was obeyed. Then Jesus did the impossible, He brought a thoroughly dead man back to life:
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go” (John 12:41-44).
While difficult circumstances come from many sources from simply living in a fallen world to a demonic attack, some may come for our own good or the good of others. It is the wise Cross Disciple who watches for the actions of the Holy Spirit in our world through the storm as well as in the sunshine. Attitude is important. Let’s resolve to follow Paul’s advice from his closing words in 1 Thessalonians 5:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thess. 5:16-18).
You never know when you need to be prodded out of harm’s way like my little lizard.
(Photo credit: R.A. Stites, Rogers City Cemetery, 2021)
