Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / Thursday August 20, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: What's up, everybody? It is Thursday, August 20. I'm your host, Craig Miller, and this is the latest episode of Beliefs, Ballots, and Bulldogs. My beautiful wife, Haley Lynn, is on her way home from Orlando. So I am going to skip the football talk, get straight into the scriptural message and ⁓ and get back to cleaning house and getting things ready for when she arrives. ⁓ today we want to talk about something that it's a it's a story we've all heard, but there's a part of this that I think if we were to take it out of context, it's a very strange phrase. It's in the Gospel of John, chapter 11. It's the story of Lazarus. Jesus receives word that one of his dear friends, Lazarus, is terribly sick. And John here makes absolutely certain that we understand the nature of their relationship before he tells us what happened. John tells us, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Got it. We understand. Jesus loved these people. They're his friends. They need him. And they know who he is, they know he has the power to help. So surely Jesus will drop everything and go to Lazarus immediately. But he doesn't. Listen to the next verse. So when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. It doesn't make sense. Jesus loved Lazarus. So he waited, not but he waited. John connects his love with what happens next. And that raises a much harder question than whether God can do something. The question for us is. What do you do when you know God could, but he doesn't? Now let's talk about this. Let's back it up a little bit. So ⁓ Lazarus lives in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. They're all very close to Jesus, dear friends. ⁓ and Lazarus becomes seriously ill. So the sisters send a message to Jesus. And and I love the simplicity of this message. Chapter 11, verse 3: Lord, he whom you love is ill. That's it. They don't tell Jesus what to do. They don't explain why Lazarus deserves healing. They don't negotiate. They simply say, Lord Jesus, somebody that you love needs you. And I think there's something beautiful about that prayer because sometimes that's all we've got. Lord, my child needs you. Lord, my marriage needs your help. Lord, can you be with my friend in this time of need? Lord, I need you now. And Mary and Martha. Obviously believe that Jesus will respond. And why wouldn't they? They've seen what he can do. They know Jesus heals people. Surely if Jesus will heal perfect strangers, he'll come for Lazarus. But he doesn't. He stays where he is. Put yourself in that house. They they've sent for Jesus and now they're just waiting. Every sound that they hear coming down the road, they assume that's him. ⁓ Every person that they see off in the distance, maybe that's Jesus finally arriving. Meanwhile, Lazarus just continues to get worse. And worse until eventually he dies. Jesus never shows up. Jesus never came home to heal Lazarus. So they they prepared Lazarus' body for burial. Still no Jesus. They bury him. Still no Jesus. One day passes, then another, and then another. By the time Jesus finally arrives in Bethany, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. Martha finally hears that Jesus is coming, so she goes out to meet him. And listen to her first words of this exchange. It's chapter 11, verse 21. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Pretty raw, pretty honest. And notice she still calls him Lord. That's faith, even in the midst of disappointment. I still believe in you, but I don't understand you. And maybe some of you listening today know exactly what that feels like. Later, Mary hears that Jesus is asking for her, so she runs to him, she falls at his feet. And her first words in chapter 30 or verse 32: Lord, if you had been here. My brother would not have died. The same exact thing Martha said. I've always wondered how many times those sisters had said that sentence to each other while waiting on Jesus to come, just sitting together after Lazarus died. If Jesus had been here as they're preparing his body, if only he'd gotten here in time, watching the stone roll across to seal the tomb, they've got to be wondered why didn't Jesus come? They never once questioned Jesus' ability, but they were sure struggling with his timing. And man, that's a different kind of struggle. Most Christians don't struggle with whether or not God is powerful. We know he is. We believe he is. And I think that's sometimes what makes the unanswered prayer so difficult. We know he could. We know he could heal. We know he could open that door, restore that relationship. He can change any circumstance. God could answer the prayer exactly as you've asked him to do. So when he doesn't, we have to wonder why. And sometimes Christians give the terrible answers to that question. You just need more faith. Everything happens for a reason. Don't be sad. God's in control. Mary's about to teach us something completely different in this passage. Or actually, Jesus is going to teach us. Jesus sees Mary crying and he sees all the people around grieving. And then we get perhaps the most famous short verse in all of scripture. It's John chapter 11, verse 35. Back in high school when we had to memorize Bible verses every Friday, I always hoped my teacher would give us this verse. John chapter 11, verse 35. Jesus wept. I got it. I've remembered that one for 30 years without even trying. Don't rush past that because it's a short verse and because we've all picked on it. Look, Jesus knows what he's about to do. He knows that Lazarus is about to walk up out of that tomb. He knows that this funeral procession is about to become a celebration. He knows in this instance that death will not have the final word. But Jesus cries. The Bible told us. Jesus wept. Why? At a minimum, I think John is trying to show us here that Jesus is genuinely entering the grief and connecting to those who are around him. He doesn't stand over Mary and say, stop crying. You just don't understand my plan. He doesn't shame her with grief. He enters it with her. And somebody might need to hear this part. Knowing that God is sovereign doesn't mean you're not allowed to hurt. Faith isn't pretending that pain isn't painful. Faith isn't smiling through heartbreak so that everybody thinks you're spiritually strong. Jesus himself stood outside a tomb and cried. And here's what we need to remember here: knowing the ending doesn't make the pain of the middle meaningless. Sometimes we cry, and apparently Jesus isn't afraid of our tears. Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus here, and there's a stone covering the entrance. And he says, Take away the stone. Martha immediately objects. In other words, she's, she's, she says, Hey, Jesus, I don't think you understand. He's been dead for days here. This thing is over. The funeral happened. The stone is in place. We have already begun processing this and accepting the reality. But Jesus tells him to move the stone. And then he prays. And after praying, Jesus cries out, Lazarus, come out. You imagine the silence I could only wish I could have been present for a moment like this. Can you imagine the silence? Everybody staring at this tomb, and then there's movement. The man who had been dead walked out, still wrapped in his burial clothes, and Jesus says, Unbind him and let him go. Mary and Martha asked Jesus for a healing, and they got something instead that they could have never imagined. They watched their dead brother walk right out of the grave. But we have to be careful here because this is where. We can turn a beautiful Bible story into some bad theology. The lesson is not, hey, hang in there long enough and God will eventually give you exactly what you want. That's never promised. Sometimes the person we pray for still dies. Sometimes the relationship can't be restored or isn't restored. Sometimes that door stays closed, and sometimes the diagnosis doesn't change. Sometimes we don't understand God's plan on this side of eternity. So if I will ever I'll I I will never tell someone. Your Lazarus is definitely coming out of the tomb tomorrow. We can't make that promise. I don't have that authority. But John 11 does allow me to tell you something else. God's apparent delay is never evidence of God's indifference. Jesus loved Mary. Jesus loved Martha. Jesus loved Lazarus. And during those days when they probably felt the most abandoned, that love never changed. It never went away. Jesus' love for those three never dissipated. That's the message I think we need to hint at. Mary and Martha were living inside of one chapter. They couldn't turn the page, and neither can we. We are living in today. We can only live in today. We don't know what happens tomorrow. We don't know what happens next week. We don't know what happens next month, next year, or 10 years from now. We certainly can't see and can't even comprehend eternity from where we're standing. And sometimes we make some pretty enormous conclusions about God. Based on one painful moment or painful chapter of our life. God doesn't care. God forgot about me. God didn't hear me. God must not love me. Be careful. Don't judge, don't judge God's love by the chapter you're currently in living in. Mary standing beside Lazarus' grave could have easily concluded, Jesus is too late. But Jesus wasn't finished. And that's where the story gets even bigger, because eventually there's another tomb in this book, another stone. Rolled in front, another group of grieving people. Jesus himself would be dead. Friday would look like an absolute defeat. The disciples would scatter. Hope would appear, dead and gone. Saturday, silence. And if you stopped reading the story there, you could reasonably ask, Hey God, where are you? But the story wasn't finished. Sunday morning, that stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty. Jesus Christ was alive. And that's ultimately why we can trust God. Even when we don't understand the chapter we're living in. Not because we're guaranteed the outcome we want tomorrow, but because we already know how the ultimate story ends. Death doesn't win, sin doesn't win, the grave doesn't win. Christ does. So maybe you've been praying for something and God hasn't done what you've asked. Maybe you've prayed for months, years. And somewhere inside of you, there's that Mary and Martha sentence. Lord, if you had only. If you had only intervened, if you had only stopped it, if you'd only opened that door, if you had only answered when I asked, I don't know why God hasn't done what you're asking him to do. And I'm not going to insult you by pretending that I do, but I do know this. His silence is not proof of his absence, and his delay is not proof of his indifference. Your pain is not proof that he doesn't love you. Mary couldn't see beyond the tomb. Jesus could. Bring him your disappointment. Bring him the question. Bring him the tears. You don't have to pretend. Mary didn't. Martha didn't. Jesus himself wept and then kept trusted. Not necessarily because we understand what he's doing, but because we know who he is. And when you're tempted to decide that God doesn't love you because of what you're living through right now, remember this story. Remember John chapter 11. Remember Mary. Remember Martha. Remember Lazarus. Remember the tomb. And remember this. We can't judge God's love by the chapter we're currently living in. We haven't finished the story yet, but God already knows the ending. Thanks for tuning in as always, guys. Get in your Bible, say your prayers, love one another, and tell the truth. God bless.