“But some of them said, ‘Could not hear who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?'”
– John 11:37
Ha, you got to let John 11:37 soak in because it has massive implications for our lives, particularly when we walk through trials and tribulation, and we have questions about why this or that is happening. So the story here in John chapter 11 is about Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, the brother of Mary and Martha. And Jesus gets news that Lazarus is sick and then gets news that Lazarus has died.
Jesus didn’t get to him to heal him of his sickness and he’s died. And so once finally Jesus gets there, He speaks to Mary and Martha, and they’re starting to take Him to the tomb where Lazarus is, and the people are saying, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Basically saying, “Why didn’t He save Lazarus? He could have done it. Why didn’t He do it? Where was Jesus when it mattered?” Now, this crowd of people obviously has no idea what’s about to happen. Jesus is about to raise Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus is about to walk out of a tomb. They have no idea what they are about to see. They have no idea the bigger picture of what’s happening as they ask this question in that moment.
And I was having this conversation with my kids the other night as we were talking about trials and challenges in this world. And I just reminded them exactly what John 11 is teaching us that when we walk through trials, when we’re walking through sorrow and suffering, we don’t always see the big picture. In fact, we rarely see or know the big picture. We don’t see all that God is doing.
This Verse Prays For Us To Give Him Our Faith And Trust
And we need to remember this as we ask genuine questions, questions that are the forefront of our minds and our hearts. And it’s okay, it’s even good. Like we see all throughout scripture, people in suffering asking God, “Why or how could this happen?” And so it’s not that it’s wrong to ask those questions, but it’s right to ask those questions with humility, with faith, with trust that we don’t see everything. We don’t know everything.
And the God who does see and know everything is worthy of our trust. That the God who does see and know everything is the king who has made a way for death to be defeated. That the God who does know everything and does see everything, His name is Jesus and He has power over death itself. So God, we pray that you would help us to have this perspective in this world, particularly a world of suffering in trial when we walk through it, I’m assuming there’s many people listening to this right now who are walking through things where they’re wondering, “Why?” Wondering, “How could this happen?”
Or they’re wondering why, wondering how this could happen. And God, we just confess together right now, our limited knowledge, our limited perspective, we confess. We don’t see everything, we don’t know everything, and we don’t understand as a result. We don’t understand why this or that is happening and so we pray. Together, we pray that you would give us faith and humility and trust in who you are.
John 11:37 Trusts In Him And Sees His Glory
We say together right now that you are the one who sees everything, you’re the one who knows everything, and all of our trust is in you. All of our hope is in you. We lean upon you. We trust in you. Need you. We need your help because we can’t see it all. We don’t understand so we pray, help us and help us to believe at every moment what you promise in your word that you’re working all things together for the good of those who love you, and have been called according to your purpose.
And God, we pray, we pray in a John 11:37 like way that we would see your glory in new ways as a result of what we’re walking through amidst our questions. And God, that we would come to know in a deeper way that you are the king who has conquered death, that you are the king who has made a way for all suffering to end. We look forward to, long for that day when we will see your face, gather around your throne, free from sin, free from sorrow, free from suffering, and you wiping away every tear from our eyes forever. So yes we say, yes, we trust in you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
