A Dead Loss
John 11:21-22 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask."
Sometimes tragic things happen in life, things that are completely irreversible, that seem to rob us of the good future that we had planned for ourselves.
You’ve probably heard it said that you shouldn’t cry over spilt milk. In other words, the past is the past. You can’t change it, you can’t un-spill so as to speak, so move on. Stop worrying about the past and look to the future.
That’s easy to say, but for many, it’s nigh on impossible to do.
Jesus had a friend, Lazarus, who was dying, so they sent a messenger for Jesus to come quickly, but He delayed by a couple of days, so by the time He got there, Lazarus was dead.
Now Lazarus’ sister, Martha, said to Him: If only you’d been here my brother wouldn’t have died. And that was true. Jesus could have prevented his death.
How often have you thought “if only this” or “if only that”? How often have you prayed, “God if only you would have … ?” It seems that sometimes, God misses opportunities to do good in our lives. And when we’re lying there, bleeding, hurting beyond words, right at that point, “don’t cry over the spilt milk” seems like such a cruel thing to say.
But Martha, she didn’t stop at the “If only …” Let’s look at all of what she, because it’s the next bit that was the most important:
John 11:21-22 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask.”
Sometimes we look at that mess on the floor – that spilt milk – and we imagine that there’s nothing we can do. There isn’t. We can’t. But Jesus can.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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