A man was walking along a cliff when the soft ground gave way and he plummeted down toward the ocean below. Just when he thought all was lost, his hands clasped a branch which grew from the side of the cliff. He grasped it firmly and began to pray and yell for help. Then, he heard a voice saying, “Trust me and let go.” “Who is that?” he called. “It is God. Trust me and let go.” He waited for a moment and then shouted, “Is there anybody else up there?” Clearly, trusting God was his “plan B.”
When Martha and Mary, dear friends of Jesus realized their brother was sick, they sent word to him, simply saying, “The one you love is sick.” How would you like to be known to God as, “the one you love”? I am sure they expected Jesus to drop everything and make a bee-line to them. But Jesus didn’t. Why not? John says, “Jesus loved them and he did not come to them.” This sounds contradictory to us, doesn’t it? Imagine Martha and Mary looking up the road saying, “When Jesus gets here, he will heal our brother.” Then they waited. Jesus did not come. Their brother died.
Can God love us and let us go through difficulty? Absolutely. When Jesus arrived Martha and Mary were not happy with him. But Jesus did a greater work than they could have imagined. He wept with them at their brother’s tomb. Jesus hated death and what it had done to his friend. Then he called him out of the tomb, and Lazarus lived. True, Jesus loved Lazarus and let him die. Then Jesus who embodies the Resurrection and the Life loved him back to life. What is dying in your world today? Go ahead and tell God about it. But don’t be surprised if he leaves you for a while in his waiting room. Even while you are waiting, you are the one God loves!
