But Lord, I thought you loved me

I am wondering if any of you have ever said or at least thought to yourself, God where are you, I thought you loved me? You might find yourself in between jobs at the moment and the bills are piling up, perhaps you or a family member are fighting a battle with cancer or some other long term illness such as alzheimers, possibly someone you love has wronged or betrayed you in some way, or maybe you have even lost someone to an illness or even worse they just walked out on you.

You have prayed and prayed and then prayed some more and your still waiting on the Lord to show up and fix things. And you ask yourself, Lord where are you, I thought the you loved me? There are two people in the New Testament characters, actual close friends of Jesus, himself, that shared a very similar experience.

John 11¹ Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” ⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

Did you catch it? The word YET. Jesus loved this family YET Jesus still delayed. You may still be without work YET Jesus loves you, you or someone you love might be fighting a deadly disease YET Jesus loves you, you may feel abandoned or betrayed YET Jesus loves you. Fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, never for one second doubt our Lord's love for you.  

If the Lord is delaying in your life, HE has the other person or your best interest in mind. Think on what this family would have missed out on if Jesus had not waited. (see below)                                                                                ³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” ⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.    Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Ephesians 3:18-19

¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

I am not sure why God may have you waiting today, but I know He has a holy and divine reason. A reason that may be beyond yours or my own comprehension. For His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, that is for sure. (Romans 11:33-Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!) 

Take some time today to reflect on how God's waiting in the past turned out for the better in the end as well as to pray that the Lord would help you to grasp how wide and deep and high Christ's love for you, a follower and disciple of Christ, actually flows.