I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.
John 11:26-26
Defeat is more than losing a battle. Failure is more than making a mistake. The End is more than the last page of a book. We are going to lose many battles in this life. We are going to make many mistakes. And there will be many endings in our life. All these things are the stepping stones to success when we are trusting in the very God who holds all of eternity in His hand.
Jesus had received a message about Lazarus being sick. He didn't go immediately to the heal him. He stayed two more days and then told His disciples that Lazarus was dead. He then traveled to see Mary and Martha. By the time Jesus got there, Lazarus had been dead four whole days! (John 11:39) All hope was gone. Mary and Martha were crushed. They couldn't understand why Jesus had let this happen. You can almost hear the recrimination in Martha's voice as she said, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."
Haven't we felt like that with God before? "If only You had showed up, God, then ...." I am sure that we can all fill in the blank with a long list of things that have happened in our lives that were devastating, crushing, humiliating ... Sometimes we feel that God has let us down. But He hasn't. We serve the God who cannot lie and who cannot break His promises. It's not over.
We are going to go through rough circumstances in this life. We are going to face loss. We are going to experience pain. We are going to wonder "why"? We may not get the answer that we were hoping for. We may experience with the Apostle Paul--all hope of life is lost. (2 Corinthians 1:8). But we serve the God who says, "It's not over." This life is not the End of the story. We serve a Risen Savior who sits at the right hand of the Father. He defeated death itself and has triumphed over every enemy. He will never leave us nor forsake us and one day we will hear the wonderful words of life. "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord." It's not over.
Blessings to you!
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