God Is In Control

But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days. Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.” (John 11:4-7 NLT)


Often times, our faith is challenged by unexpected circumstances that come along our way, especially the ones we call “unfortunate circumstances” like sickness, death of a loved one, bankruptcy, job loss, accidents, wayward kids, and many more. Unbelievers consider them as misfortunes, or in Tagalog “ka-malas-an”. But in the life of a Christian, there is nothing such as “malas”, for everything that happens in the life of the believer is governed by the Lord – who saved us, bought us with His blood, and called us His own.

We see in the passage that Lazarus, Martha, and Mary – who are beloved friends of Jesus, were not exempted in having sickness and even death (physical). We too are not exempted from trials, testing, and temptations no matter how mature we are in the Lord - for they are God’s instruments for molding us into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is preparing us for fellowship with Him for the next billion and gazillion years and into eternity. And He wants to take down all pride that hangs in our life, purifies us to be white as snow for He is holy, and shapes us into beings fit for heaven.

Things will come to pass, and God has the right timing for everything - which could be two days, two months, or two years. And if we abide despite all the trials, the Lord will lift us up and restore us back into joyous fellowship with Him, as He did with Lazarus. Lazarus may had been enjoying heaven for four days, but called back by the Lord to earth again! Nevertheless, it made no difference with Lazarus for he is in the presence of God all along.

All these (trials, testing, and temptations) must happen in the life of a believer – all for the glory of God.