And so it was thought

The word of God is astounding; it has the power to cause what is not seen, to be seen. It speaks life, enters into our minds, and changes something and everything. The word of God gives us new energy, and allows us to run for miles and miles with a new focus and a new direction. God is in the business of renewing us and extending us to higher heights. To be renewed means to cause something to go back to its original condition; God’s original intention. Have you ever thought that your situation is way too deep for redemption? Or your case is beyond restoration? Do you feel so lifeless, that nothing can ever change your situation? Well, God is more than you can ever imagine! You’ve got to believe it! Your situation is ripe for change and He is the change maker!! The Lord has a way of arriving after your crisis has completely manifested! He arrives at the end of the end, and when all options have exhausted, and the situation is way beyond dead; and has essentially perished and spoiled (or so it seems). We see a short phrase in Luke 3:23 of the story of Jesus and his father – “or so it was thought”. The expression is significant because it shows how easily and somewhat unknowingly, people can think one thing of a situation, but in reality, it’s quite different (especially in God’s eyes). You know how you drive on the road or the freeway and you see a dead squirrel, bird or whatever; and you find yourself swerving away from it, so you don’t get tainted by it…or the dead skin does not get on your car (think about this). Of course you do this, because it stinks, and/or its messy everywhere. You might actually say out loud “that is nasty!” Well, God will often allow something to die, in order to allow something greater to come forth. Think about it, if Lazarus didn’t die, then resurrection wouldn’t have been manifested; if the blind man wasn’t blind, then his healing wouldn’t have been significant; if the red sea wasn’t there, then the miraculous parting of the sea wouldn’t have been glorifying. God arrives when the situation is good and dead! Even to the point that the situation has a smell to it. The smell only shows that death is approaching or is in the works. And let’s face it, smells are not appealing to us; we are human. We tend to walk away from people that smell and we – in the name of leaving them up to God – give up on them, and we do not want to be associated with them. Or if you are the dead one, you tend to give up on yourself when you get an aroma of your own smell, and you completely forget what you are made of and who you are made in the image of…and you willingly surrender and call it quits. For us, the smell might signify the end of the end, it might mean that our situation has gone too far for help; it could also mean that we have run out of options and our only answer is death or surrendering to the dark side. Or so it is thought……. The wonderful news is that the Lord does not like tombs and smells do not deter Him. He didn’t stay in one, and won’t allow His children to stay in it either. We remember the work He did for Lazarus (John 11). When He came to Lazarus, Lazarus was good and dead. And the people were sure of it! As a matter of fact, when it was brought to Jesus’ attention that Lazarus was sick, Jesus responded that his sickness will not bring him to death. To top it off, Jesus stayed a few more days away from Lazarus. Have you ever thought that God should have arrived to your situation sooner? Of course! It would be easier for us to understand because sooner would make the situation more predictable and it would suit us better; but God never works on our schedule. He arrives on time!!! The other part of this puzzle is that you and I play different roles in this. You might be waiting on God to do something BIG in your life, and get you out of the situation that you are in. Or you might know someone that is going through a tough hopeless situation. You may be the one that drives past the dead / stinky mess and want nothing to do with it. You might be the one that cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel for your life; actually, you might be waiting for death to overtake you. None of us are exempt from this. When the Lord was about to resurrect Lazarus, He asked the people around to roll away the stone. He then resurrected Lazarus. And then He asked the people to loosen Lazarus and let Him go. ISN’T THAT AMAZING?!?!?!?! Will you be available for the rolling of the stone on someone else’s life? Will you be willing to walk out of the tomb when your stone is rolled away? We need to stop dwelling on the dead things and actually move on from them! We need to stop thinking the “and so it was thought” thoughts that we have. We need to remove those limitations from our thinking. God is here to heal and resurrect us, and it’s our choice to work with Him. He wants to take us out of the emotional realm and remove the boundaries that we have placed on ourselves, and the ones we have placed on others. Only God can walk into a dead place and bring life out of it. Do not give up, stay encouraged and believe that God can do it! Adapted from Pastor Patrick's Sermon 12/5/10. http://www.shilohchurch.com