“If God really loved me, He wouldn’t let this happen to me.” Maybe that thought has crossed your mind, as you’ve wrestled with sickness or grief. But Jesus certainly loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus (11:5), and yet when He heard Lazarus was very sick, He made the conscious decision not to go and heal him right away. That doesn’t make sense.

So, if He loved them, why did He let Lazarus die? Was He just afraid of the religious leaders in Jerusalem, only a few miles away from Lazarus’ home in Bethany? The disciples certainly were. For when Jesus finally said it was time to go and comfort His grieving friends, they warned Him about the plots against Him (11:8). They were just certain that going to Bethany meant going to their deaths (11:16). So, why would Jesus intentionally lead them into harm’s way? That doesn’t make sense.

No, according to worldly wisdom Jesus’ kind of love and Jesus’ embrace of danger doesn’t make any sense at all. But Jesus says that kind of thinking is actually walking in darkness (11:10). He says that He is the true light of the world (9:5), so the only way to avoid stumbling is to follow Him (11:9), to live and love only on His terms, no matter how little sense it may make for us.

For it turned out that allowing Lazarus to die gave Jesus an opportunity not only to show His love for him by raising him from the dead (11:44). Lazarus’ resurrection proved to be a tremendous blessing to Jesus’ disciples then and now, building our faith in Jesus and His promises of the resurrection (11:15). And even though raising Lazarus from the dead gave Jesus’ enemies even more reason to put Him to death (11:53), it was only through Jesus’ crucifixion that the blessing of salvation came to people all the world, and the greatest glory came to God (11:4).

So, no. Just because we suffer or grieve, just because God doesn’t provide immediate relief for us or our loved ones doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us. It doesn’t mean God is somehow not in control of our lives. For the life, death and resurrection of Lazarus and of Christ Himself proves that God is able to bring great blessings even out of the greatest pain and sorrow. So, let us follow Jesus, even into suffering and danger and grief. For no matter how little sense it may make, that’s the only way to walk in the light.

John 11:1-16 (ESV)

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.
3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”
12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,
15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”