“Loose him, and let him go!”

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that,He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. ”Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. (John 11:1-5) 

Two more days?! Why did he not come right away?!

Have you been there friend? Or maybe you find yourself there right now. You are waiting in pain (physical or emotional) for an answer. Why the delay? Why the turmoil? 

So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. (Vs.17) Hear the anguish in Martha’s voice, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”(Vs.21)

Then it was Mary’s turn, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” (Vs.32)

What is the cry of your heart today? “Lord, if you had been here, ...!”

Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 

Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” And some of them said,“Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:33-37)

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” (Vs.38, 39)

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been deadfour days.”

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (Vs.39, 40)

“If you would BELIEVE!” “Oh Heavenly Father, help us to BELIEVE!” 

Then they took away the stone from the placewhere the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may BELIEVE that You sent Me.” Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”(Vs. 41-44)

Oh friend! Faint not in your trial! Faint not in your pain! Faint not in unbelief! The Father’s thoughts are not ours! 

“For My thoughts arenot your thoughts,

Nor areyour ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For asthe heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8, 9) 

His thoughts toward us are thoughts of peace and not evil. “I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the Lord, “thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) 

Let us BELIEVE Him!! Let us wait for the perfect timing of His command, “Loose him, and let him go!”