Hello all!! It’s been awhile since I’ve updated my blog, but here I am.
I’ve been in Kathmandu, Nepal for almost 3 weeks now!! Nepal is a very beautiful, but a very dusty and dirty country. The people are very used to foreigners due to the trekking community, but not exactly the love of Christ through those people. We have spent most of our time here praying over the country and loving the kids in the slums around town. We also have been given the chance to visit different churches every Saturday, their holy day, to share testimonies, worship, and even preach sermons. This past Saturday, we got on a crowded bus and headed two hours away from our house, then trekked up the side of a hill for a church service.
This Saturday was a little different than normal though, because I was the one getting the opportunity to preach the sermon. When we were asked who wanted to do the sermon I was a little hesitate to say yes, but I knew with Drew’s passing being a year ago, Emily’s birthday the same week, and many other things that happened this time last year that seemed to crush me… I knew exactly what I had to preach on…
Purpose in the Pain.
Have you ever experienced pain? Sickness? Cancer? Death of a family member or close friend? Change in plans that you really hoped for?
I’m sure we all have at least experienced one of these if not all.
I have experienced a few of those and in a short period of time. I experienced my dad having heart surgery, the death of two close friends, change in my plans, and a few other things all within a few months and it wrecked me, but I was able to see Our Lord in a clearer picture because of it.
I want to tell you a story about two women that experienced deep hurt, but found purpose in their pain.
John 11:1-44
Verse 1-3: Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
***Mary was a servant of Christ, but this doesn’t mean she didn’t face hard times.
– As Christians we are going to face trials and temptations, but this produces perseverance as it says in James 1, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
– Take note it doesn’t say complain, be bitter, or soak in your trials and pain. No it says consider it pure joy.
Verse 4: But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
***This thing you’re going through is not for the death of you, but for you to make it out glorifying God.
Verse 5-7: Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
***He loved them, but he waited.
– I know many times in my life when I’m deep in a struggle I will look for God in it and he’s hard to find, but sometimes he’s waiting for his timing to reveal himself in our pain.
Verse 8-17: The disciples questioned why Jesus wanted to go back to where they tried to stone him. He told them not to worry that his friend had fallen asleep and he was going to wake them up, the disciples were confused because if he was sleeping he would just wake up. Jesus told them Lazarus was dead and he was going to raise him, so that they may believe. Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days
***You may be deep in your struggle, but you have not been forgotten by Christ.
– When Jesus arrived Lazarus had been dead for four days, but The Lord had not forgotten about him.
Verse 20-22: So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
***He didn’t come when she wanted him to or when she expected him to, but she trusted that he could still perform miracles.
– Many times in life we think God is going to do something that is in our plans, but his plan is totally different and like Martha we have to trust in his plan even if it causes us pain.
Verse 23-26: Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
***Jesus told her what the outcome was going to be, but she didn’t understand.
– Many times The Lord shows us the purpose, but we just don’t understand.
Verse 27: She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
***But even in her doubt and confusion, Martha believed in who Christ said he was. She pursued him even in the hard times.
Verse 28-32: Martha then went to get Mary to bring her to the Lord. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
***Trying to find him in the tragedy, we tend to look for him, but don’t understand that he has been with us the whole time and knows what has to be done.
Verse 33-35: When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.
***Even though He knew the outcome of the situation Martha and Mary were going through, he still hurt with them. He doesn’t like to see us in pain, but he knows there is a purpose in it.
Verse 38-40: Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
***Martha wasn’t perfect. She still doubted in his plan. As humans we’re going to doubt every once in awhile, because when we’re deep in our failures or pains things can become pretty stinky!!
Verse 41-44: So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
***As a Christ follower, we’re eventually going to come out on the other side of our pain. The chains of our sin and tragedy are eventually going to fall.
Mary and Martha, who were servants of Christ, questioned why they had to go through the pain of losing Lazarus and were forced to rely on the power of Our almighty King. But in the end, The Lord shows his power and creates a bigger impact on the kingdom through Lazarus and raising him from the dead.
Trying to figure out why things happened the way they do sometimes you get answers, but a lot of the time you just don’t. Answers aren’t always what we need, but the one thing we must always have is trust. Trust that He is good, that He is sovereign, that His plans are much greater than ours. For a long time, I thought life was filled with rainbows and butterflies, but you will eventually face tragedy, lose, and change and it will hurt like hell. But in that you will also realize how big our God is. Because I’ll be honest I knew God could deal with my simple problems, but it took a lot of pain and tragedy to realize our God can pull us out of the grave, out of our deepest pit. Thank you God for allowing us to experience pain, but know you have a purpose in it.
