He was always coming.

 

Now a certain man named Lazarus was ill. He was of Bethany,

the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived.

This Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume

and wiped His feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus

who was [now] sick.

So the sisters sent to Him, saying, Lord, he whom you love

[so well] is sick.

John 11:1-3

 

Mary and Martha were in need of a miracle. Their brother

was sick and it didn’t look like he was getting better.

 

Like Mary and Martha I NEED a miracle! I need Jesus

to come through for me. If He doesn’t come through for me

what am I supposed to do? The enemy will win if He doesn’t

come through.

 

“Therefore [even] when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He still

stayed two days longer in the same place where He was.

So when Jesus arrived, He found that he [Lazarus] had already

been in the tomb four days.”

‭‭John‬ ‭11:6, 17‬ ‭AMP‬‬

 

I sort of understand what happened here. Jesus could have left

immediately but He didn’t.

Was He testing Mary and Martha’s faith?

 

But let’s look at what was happening with Martha and Mary.

They had called for the Master but He hadn’t arrived yet.

That time of waiting couldn’t have been easy. As time passed

their brother’s health deteriorated.  Where are you Jesus, was

the question on their minds. How long could they keep

waiting? Did they feel abandoned by Jesus, like He didn’t

care what they were going through?

 

Lazarus died…..

Still no show.

 

Day two……

No show.

 

Day three….

It’s hopless.

 

Day four….

It’s over.

 

As all this was happening, the bible tells us that:

 

“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. [They were His dear friends, and He held them in loving esteem.
‭‭John‬ ‭11:5‬ ‭AMP‬‬

 

Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters very much. It wasn’t

easy seeing the sisters broken at thier loss. He wept with

them!

He is not up in heaven playing cruel jokes on His

people. He doesn’t get a kick from seeing us in pain.

He has a plan for us!

 

When I read this story I think of the things I am trusting

God for. There were times in my life in my trusting that

I would lash out at God because I thought He had abandoned

and forgotten about me. But it’s not true!

There are still some things I am trusting Him for, things

that I prayed for, years ago. Has it been easy? Heck

no. But I know He can be trusted. He has a plan in the

waiting. He has a plan in the midst of the pain. He has a plan!

As I wrap up I would like to challenge you to wait on Him.

He knows where you at, truly!

 

photo credit: google images

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The different faces of Wisdom.

If you have been following my blog for a while you will know that one of my deepest desires is to walk in true wisdom. You will know how much I love wisdom and you will also know I believe it is the key to real living. If you didn’t know all that now you do.   🙂

But now I want to go deeper. The wisdom of God is deep. There is no argument there but what I would like to do is show you a few more faces of wisdom. We may know them but just ignored them because we didn’t know what they were or who they belonged to.                                 Proverbs 2 (Message) gives us some insight into what these other faces are.

“Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of understanding.                                                                                                                        That’s right – if you make Insight your priority, and won’t take no for an answer, searching for it like                                                                                        a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt, Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours;”

With wisdom comes understanding – another face of wisdom. Understanding or in other words Insight. (please note, these two words, understanding and insight have different meanings but still similar in a lot of ways. I would love to hear what you understand about those two words).When you have Understanding, Insight then you are walking in wisdom! Do you have Insight?

“Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God.                                                                                  And here’s why: God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding.                                                                                                      He’s a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well, “

Another face of wisdom is Common Sense. Just because you have the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean you should throw common sense out of the window. Common Sense is a form of wisdom. There will be times when you won’t know which path to take and when that time comes use common sense. Common sense is very practical and it will save you from a whole lot of confusion. Read this,

Lady Wisdom will be your close friend, and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion. Good sense will scout ahead for danger, Insight will keep an eye out for you. They’ll keep you from making wrong turns, or following the bad directions”

Let’s just recap on the different faces of Wisdom that we have looked at.

– Understanding/Insight

– Common Sense

– Knowledge (I didn’t expound on it because I think it’s self explanatory)

Like I said in the beginning,Wisdom is the key to a successful life but we need to walk in the different facets of wisdom. We need to learn what they are and my hope is this post has helped in that regard.

“It’s through me, Lady Wisdom, that your life deepens, and the years of your life ripen. Proverbs 9. (Message)

Rolain