{"id":945,"date":"2012-05-06T16:50:36","date_gmt":"2012-05-06T16:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aaronmatthew.com\/blog\/?p=945"},"modified":"2013-07-13T15:40:48","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T15:40:48","slug":"god-sees-and-god-cares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aaronmatthew.com\/blog\/2012\/god-sees-and-god-cares\/","title":{"rendered":"God Sees and God Cares"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was written by my good friend Edward Anglin. When I saw this note he posted on Facebook, I loved the heart of it and knew I had to have it on my blog. Thank you Edward for letting me post this here on my blog.<\/p>\n

John 11:6, 17, 21, 32, 39 KJV<\/strong>
\n\u201cWhen he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What do you do when your situation is bleak, and hope lays helpless, slowly and surely dying right before your very eyes? What do you do when the name of Jesus becomes more than just the name of a Friend, but a whispered prayer of agony? <\/p>\n

What do you do when God doesn\u2019t show up on time? When your dream dies because He doesn\u2019t even make an appearance? When everything you see, and everything you hear, tells you He\u2019s just not coming? How do you cope with the horror of watching what you love slip away, all the while knowing it could have been spared if only the Great Physician would have showed up on time?<\/p>\n

Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus, informing Him that their brother, Lazarus, was sick and then they waited patiently for the Lord to come. They had every reason to believe that He WOULD come. Lazarus was one of His best friends and Jesus had spent many hours with he and his sisters.<\/p>\n

Think of it, if Jesus was going to heal anyone, He would surely heal His friend. But hour after hour passed, and there was no sign of the Lord.<\/p>\n

To be sure, Mary and Martha weren\u2019t the first to wonder where God was when they needed Him.<\/p>\n

I imagine Joseph wondered as much when He was thrown in a pit, and then in a prison. I imagine Abram felt the same way when he was childless in a desert place while years turned into decades and decades turned into a lifetime of unfulfilled promises. Surely Moses must have felt abandoned on the backside of a desert, far from the palace of Egypt, and forty years from the place to which God would eventually lead him.<\/p>\n

In each of these situations, those who felt abandoned must have questioned the promise of God, the purpose of God, and the providence of God.<\/p>\n

Both Mary and Martha, after Jesus finally arrived on the scene, wondered at His delay. \u201cIf You had been here, he would not have died.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhere were you, Lord? Where were you when I needed you most? Why the delay? You didn\u2019t care enough to save a friend?\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, when Jesus finally arrived on the scene and asked them to roll away the stone, Martha questioned if He truly understood what had happened. “Lord, he\u2019s been in the grave four days. He stinks. You obviously don\u2019t understand my situation.”<\/p>\n

How many times have we prayed “God, you don\u2019t understand!\u201d and \u201cHow could you let this happen?”<\/p>\n

Even though it seemed all hope was gone and the time for miracles had passed Jesus was working in this situation. Though they didn\u2019t understand, and hope seemed hopeless, God was preparing one of His greatest miracles.<\/p>\n

Time, sickness and death are no match for our Jesus. Doubt and unbelief flee from His presence. <\/p>\n

Even when we do not understand God\u2019s timing, or His ways, He\u2019s still working for our good.<\/p>\n

God sees, and God cares.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of years earlier, on Mt. Moriah, as Abram prepared to kill the very promise that it had taken so long to receive, an agonizing refrain must’ve replayed over and over in his mind.<\/p>\n