Harvest Daily with Greg Laurie - Nov. 8, 2006
“If You Had Been Here. . . . ”
Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
—John 11:21
In all honesty, by the time Jesus got to
Martha told Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). Loose paraphrase: “Lord, with all due respect, You didn’t come through. We told everyone, ‘Jesus is our friend. We will send Him a message, and He will come and heal Lazarus. You watch. He cares about us. He loves us.’ Then You come strolling in here a few days later. Now my brother is beyond sick. He is dead.”
Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again” (verse 20).
“I know that, Lord. I know he will rise in the final resurrection,” Martha replied.
He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (verses 25–26).
“Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world” (verse 27). Martha wasn’t getting it. She wanted a healing; Jesus wanted resurrection. Yes, He loved Lazarus. But He wanted to do something more dramatic.
In the same way, we say, “Lord, you have to do this. . . .” But do we ever stop and think that God may want to do more? Do we ever stop and think that God might want to do abundantly above and beyond that which we could ask or think? If God closes one door, then He will open another.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org.
Copyright © 2006 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.
