Life Lessons From 25 New Testament CharactersSample

Raised by a Miraculous Hand

When everything seems to go wrong when problems never seem to get better, do you wonder where God is? This is Lazarus' story. We meet Lazarus in the worst position any one of us can imagine, on his deathbed. And Jesus, a friend of Lazarus, was nowhere to be found. Where was He? He was waiting for the right moment. Jesus waited for Lazarus to die to then show up and do the most miraculous thing - raise him from the dead. He is doing the same thing for us today; he is waiting for the right moment to do what only He can do - miraculously change our situations. God uses our most difficult situations and experiences for our good and His glory.

THINK and PRAY:

Hearing God’s Voice in the toughest times.

Read John 11:1-4 and notice Jesus’ response to Lazarus’ sickness, “Lazarus’ sickness...happened for the glory of God...”. It may seem hard to understand that right in the middle of our hard times, but that is how God views our struggles — opportunities for our good and His glory. If Lazarus was never sick and passed away, would he have known God as ”The Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25)? Likely not in such a deep way. In our hard times, let us pray for opportunities to know God better and to be able to recognize that God is miraculously working in and using our struggles as a means to reveal Himself to us, to teach us something about Himself. Even at his lowest point — dead in the grave — Lazarus was able to hear and obey Jesus’ clear voice and command, “...come out!”. He obeyed and then experienced the miraculous life-giving power of Jesus. Father God, help us to recognize and realize that You are at work in our lives, especially in our hardest and darkest days.