Today's Devotional

December 23, 2002

Subject:  He's Always There 

John 11:15 - "And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him."

I returned yesterday from spending the previous three days with my 3-year old, Caisa.  She spent a few days in the intensive care unit and after the first couple of days, I knew that it would be necessary for me to go see her.  I knew that me being there would give her the excitement about daddy that would make her feel better.  Of course, "I" couldn't heal her, but being there sure would make a difference in her outlook on her hospital stay.  That's exactly what happened.  She got out of the intensive care unit the day that I got there and for the remainder of the day, she played with me and we had to tell her several times to stop running around.  The nurses and doctors were amazed and came in asking jokingly, "where is the sick girl?"

Much the same is God in our lives.  While he never ever leaves us, he often let's us know that He has shown up so that we can see and believe in His wonder-working power.  That's what happened when He went to raise Lazarus from the dead.  As indicated above, He showed up so that they would believe in His power to raise Lazarus from the dead.  Like Caisa, it was a matter of their outlook.  In the 21st verse, Martha said to Jesus, "if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."  Jesus showing up when He did gave them all a new outlook because the circumstance may not have gone the way that they expected, i.e., their brother dying, but this happened so that they could see that the circumstance they were in didn't really matter because Jesus is able to overcome any circumstance that they were facing.

So it is with us.  God is always with us.  If your circumstance is less than desirable, remember, it is so that you will believe.  Simply wait and He will show up.

Carlen