Have you ever questioned God’s love for you?
Here’s your spoonful of courage:
Everyone faces tough situations where things don’t turn out as we expect:
- An unexpected death
- An unanswered prayer
- A fractured relationship
- A prolonged ordeal which drags on
When we face these situations, we tend to doubt God’s love for us. We begin to ask ourselves tough questions. If God really loved me, then why would He allow things like this to happen?
If God really loved me why doesn’t he step in and fix things?
If we’re honest with ourselves, we experience these feelings. We doubt God’s concern for us. Or maybe we think God doesn’t have the power to change our circumstances.
This happened to some very good friends of Jesus. Mary and Martha. Their brother, Lazarus had died. Knowing that Jesus had the power to heal their brother, the sisters sent for Jesus. They wanted Him to intervene—to fix their problem, to heal their brother, to end their grief and pain.
The sisters sent a messenger to find him. “Lord,” they said. “The one you love is sick.”
But Jesus didn’t answer their request the way they expected. At first, it seems, Jesus doesn’t answer them all. In the eleventh chapter of his book, John notes that Jesus tarried for two days before coming.
Why?
Didn’t Jesus love Lazarus and his sisters? Wasn’t he aware of their dire situation?
I wonder what went through the minds of Martha and Mary. Probably the same things that race through our minds when God doesn’t meet our expectations.
Perhaps Jesus didn’t have the power to fix their problem, to heal Lazarus? Perhaps he didn’t really care? Or maybe Jesus simply had better things to do, things more important answering their request.
In these times when we doubt the love and power of God, we must remember:
God’s love has a purpose.
He wants to perfect our faith. He places us in situations where we are forced to trust Him—even when life events don’t work out the way we anticipate.
Mary and Martha needed to learn that Jesus had something bigger in mind. What they needed was to grow in faith. And in this particular situation—experiencing Jesus’ raise Lazarus from the dead—was a gamechanger.
Jesus wanted them to witness something greater—a bigger demonstration of His love and power. And if you’ve experienced this kind of demonstration—it transforms the way you see every life event you face.
Jesus’ love for Mary and Martha, for you and me, is not a pacifying love. His love is a perfecting love. Instead of giving us what we want, God gives us what we need.
So, when your life challenges are creating doubt in God’s love for you, remember, you may, like the sisters, be somewhere in between. Wait. Be patient. God will show up. He loves you and He possesses all the power needed to make everything right.
In their circumstance, Jesus perfected Mary and Martha’s faith. They saw a demonstration of the love of God. Like Paul confesses in Romans, the sisters could testify:
“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When we wrap our minds around both the love and the power of God—our faith will move on to perfection.
So wait, trust, believe in the love of God.
I’m Dr. Chuck and this was todays spoonful of courage.
