How does grief relate to hope? Is hope like a seed? Are you watering your seed of hope, trusting in God to work through the losses and difficulties of your journey? Join me as I explain how God works through our losses, and grief to increase our hope and faith. Various links are included for you to research the relevant passages.
Quote is from Daniel B. Allender’s: The Healing Path: How the Hurts in Your Past Can Lead You to a More Abundant Life. I recommend purchasing his book and reading chapter Eight “The Dream of Hope.” I am using a quote for “fair use” purposes of religious education and encouragement that is made available online without charge. Please consider purchasing this book. Dr. Allender presents challenging truths that will help you to process and grow through your difficulties. Scripture passages are from Berean Standard Bible with emphasis by me.
Mary and Martha’s Grief: Facing the Reality of Loss
Martha questions Jesus when He arrives (John 11). Jesus uses this moment of death and grief to teach a greater truth: that He is the Resurrection and Life. As you read this passage, try to imagine how the characters were feeling and the difficult reality that they face. Jesus could have came and healed Lazarus, or He could have healed from a distance like He does in various accounts. Yet, Jesus allows Lazarus to die and then start to decay in the tomb before arriving.
Consider how Jesus responds to this difficult moment in John 11:33-44
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34“Where have you put him?” He asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they answered.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
For a detailed explanation concerning Jesus’ emotions/weeping and why He is “deeply moved”:
https://www.gotquestions.org/groan-in-the-spirit.html
The Hard Question
It’s obvious that Jesus loved Lazarus from verse thirty-six. Yet, Jesus has something else in mind. Verse thirty-seven shows us the difficult question. Why didn’t Jesus do something earlier?
37But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Jesus Raises Lazarus
38Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39“Take away the stone,” Jesus said.
“Lord, by now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man. “It has already been four days.”
40Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42I knew that You always hear Me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they may believe that You sent Me.”
43After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth.
“Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.
Notice that Jesus responds to their grief by weeping with them. He doesn’t minimize their pain. He is troubled and grieves with them. Why? It’s clear that Jesus deeply loves them and is angry with sin/death that leads all to die. Jesus understands that we are lost and perishing! The Gospel of John indicates that Jesus deeply loves His followers. Jesus understands loss and grief. He came to make all things anew–to end the separation of lost humanity to a Holy, Perfect, Righteous God.
In life we will suffer loss. Dreams will die, loved ones will pass into eternity, and disasters will happen. Walking with God doesn’t mean an “easy” or “prosperous” journey. Yet, when we walk with God we don’t face our difficulties and grief alone. Nor do we serve an uncaring or distant God! That’s the wonderful, beautiful truth about God that we see in John’s Gospel!
Hope Cries Out To God
Hope cries to God in despair and protest. . . Hope cries out for God to turn from his silence and speak. . .Hope is not an absence of sorrow, but a refusal to allow powerlessness to silence our cry or to shake our confidence in God. Instead, we are to call on God to be God–to protest his silence and anticipate the day when he speaks.
Dan. B. Allender “The Dream of Hope, pages 150-151
Do you agree that “hope isn’t an absence of sorrow” but a confidence in which we cry out to God? It’s vital that we understand and trust that God is God and will be God. His nature doesn’t change depending on our circumstances, difficulties, and bitter disappointments in life. Jesus is a Firm Foundation and Refuge. The world and it’s ways are like shifting sands that leads to collapse. Which foundation are you building on: the Solid Rock or the sand of this world? Are you calling out to Christ?
Does faith exclude questions?
Martha questions Jesus and presents the obvious: why did you let your friend die? Jesus explains in verse 40 that Lazarus dies so that God’s glory will be visible. There is meaning and purpose in Lazarus’ illness and death! Jesus reveals Himself and some believe, others report to the Pharisees. John shows us a truth about human nature. Even when Jesus commands life into a dead corpse, some will refuse to believe and accept His mission of redemption.
Consider carefully how Jesus reacts to Martha and those present. He deeply loves them and meets them as they are. He doesn’t criticize or lecture them on how to grieve or increase their faith. This is an example for us to follow when we walk with others in the valley seasons. Active listening and being fully present for others is proper and loving!
Another Glimpse at Suffering and God’s Glory
Earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus explains the man’s birth blind: John 9:1-3
1Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth, 2and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.
Jesus knows we have questions and want answers. The Enduring Word Bible commentary explains each verse of John Chapter 11
John Chapter 11
God has a plan and purpose for all the difficult moments we endure. I lack the wisdom and understanding to fully understand and explain this mysterious truth to you. I have doubts and question God when things come against me. Yet, I can testify that God has never forsaken me or given up on my failing, weak faith. Sometimes all that we can do is hang onto God in our moments of darkness and despair. Do we trust that God will redeem and restore the difficult things? Do we risk waiting upon God or seeking our own path out of the storms of life?
Jesus Turns Grief and Loss to New Life
Jesus triumphed over death and sin on the cross. Until He returns, we will suffer loss and death, but death isn’t the end. I want you to understand that our lives including our difficulties, grief, and losses aren’t the end of the story. Our hope rests firmly in the knowledge that God has redeemed us and will return to establish His Presence on Earth. All things will be made anew. The challenge of hope is that we firmly rest ourselves on Christ’s Resurrection and Redemption instead of living/hoping solely for the things of this present age.
Has God redeemed you? Has He given you True, Abundant Life? Are you trusting in His Marvelous Grace? If not then why not? The Good News of the Gospel is that God welcomes the Prodigals to come home and seeks out the Lost. May God increase your faith, hope, and courage as you seek Him daily!
CityAlight has a song that reminds us of a wonderful truth: that God knows all our ways!
May God’s presence, grace, and hope fill your life to overflow onto the lives of others around you!
Words of Grace & Hope 