Expect The Unexpected, Be Prepared With Your Faith In Jesus
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘When he heard <the news about Lazarus’ illness>, 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); ‘On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.’ (John 11:17); ‘“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died…”’ (John 11:21); ‘(43) When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” (44) 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 11:43-44)
Things in life happen unexpectedly and without warning, yet we need to be prepared for those things that occur just like that. Things in Florida like hurricanes are expected and there is usually some time before they come knocking so all of us should be prepared to go through them, or be ready to get prepared when the threat becomes apparent. But what of those things that sneak up on us, and hit us when we least expect it? Health issues, an appliance going on the fritz, having an automobile accident; we don’t know when those will happen or what exactly will happen. However, we prepare for those by having some form of health, home, or auto insurance, or having extended warranties. It is prudent to have some money set aside for when we need to go buy a replacement item when it decides to no longer function.
Sometimes, it could be an injury, illness or the death of a family member or a friend and there is no preparation that can be made in the physical sense. In those cases, the only preparation we can do is try to ensure the family member had the opportunity to know and accept Jesus. When things occur that are unexpected, we can either be prepared or unprepared – and if we are unprepared, we should know that we can turn to Jesus in Faith, as He is never caught surprised or unprepared.
If one follows the ‘6-P’ principle, Prior Planning and Preparation Precludes Poor Performance, we can reduce or minimize mistakes in our reactions but only one thing can be done to eliminate any errors in our reaction; involving God in our planning and preparations. Prayer, fellowship, and Scriptures are the best things you can do to get synchronized with the Holy Spirit and react properly. Don’t get caught unexpectedly unprepared, be caught unexpectedly prepared with the Lord.
The first 44 verses of John 11 deal with the death and resurrection of Lazarus, of which the verses ‘cherry-picked’ for your Word-Of-The-Day give a synopsis of what transpired (and I’m assuming that you have a Bible handy to read all of them). This is a picture of why we need to ensure our Faith in the Lord is strong enough to know all things are possible. It also shows that Jesus is never surprised, or awestruck, or bewildered. This does not mean Jesus was emotionless over what happened; John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible: ‘Jesus wept.’, even though He knew Lazarus would ‘wake up’ and live again after he died, Jesus still had the emotional sadness to weep in mourning, perhaps knowing the suffering Lazarus had gone through, or knowing Lazarus would one day suffer and die as he did this time, all over again.
The viewpoint to see in this is Mary and Martha; this is the same Mary and Martha who invited Jesus into their home in Luke 10:38-42, where Mary was listening to Jesus while Martha was cooking the food. This time, Martha came to see Jesus while Mary stayed home, and while Martha had Faith in what Jesus could do in limited fashion, she had been unprepared in Faith to expect Jesus to perform such an ‘impossible’ miracle in resurrecting her brother from death after 4 days. Her statement in John 11:17, to paraphrase, “If you would’ve moved faster to get here, you could have saved Lazarus!” shows that she had the Faith Jesus could heal sickness as He had done many times previously; it was natural for her to expect that having seen Him do that. But to raise someone from the dead? UNPOSSIBLE! Martha was ‘unexpectedly unprepared’ for what Jesus would do next.
Jesus went to the tomb, and as Martha (and likely the other disciples and groupies who were with Jesus, following Him around) thought Jesus would pay His respects and leave, Jesus in John 11:43 instead tells Lazarus to basically quit snoozing around and get up! To the unexpected surprise of all except Jesus, Lazarus comes out, likely waddling like a duck as he is all wrapped up like a mummy out of the opened tomb. While Martha, Mary, and the disciples were shocked, to Jesus it was simply another miracle. It is something we should not take for granted, but it is something we should expect Jesus can do. Jesus can do ALL THINGS! Whether He will, is a matter of His will and the Father’s plan.
Our Faith can be – needs to be – greater than Martha’s. We know what Jesus can do and know He, being God, can do ALL THINGS and should never sell Jesus short; we should expect the unexpected and not be surprised but blessed in preparation of events that takes others by surprise. The Holy Spirit gives us not only discernment, but by Faith and in improving our communication with God (through prayer, fellowship, and Scriptures) gives us ‘early warnings’ so we are not caught unprepared (or as unprepared) for unexpected events, but Spiritually prepared.
