The Purpose in a Dead Situation
“Then Jesus said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.’ ” John 11:14-15
Sometimes we want the Father to bring life to a dead situation, when we should ask why the situation died in the first place.
Once again, someone has been removed from my life…a situation has become dead. Although, I had my hand in creating the dead situation, as I navigate through the hurt and disappointment I feel, I couldn’t help but ask God why did this person came into my life? I had been careful who I let into my life on a personal level. I didn’t ask to care for them. I didn’t ask or want to get to know them. I did not want to open myself up to them; it just evolved into something deeper. Yet as I asked God that question, He made me analyze why the situation died. This is where the story of Lazarus comes in.
A dead situation doesn’t have to be a friendship; it can be a job, a relationship, or any number of things in life. Sometimes, God places a dead situation in our lives because it reveals who we are, it reveals who the Lord is, and it allows us to be pruned and grow.
The dead situation in my life has truly been a learning situation. I have seen an ugly and insecure side of me, but I have also broken the stronghold of fear that I have lived with so long. Although the process was painful at times, it was also joyful. Secondly, the dead situation showed me another side of God and Christ. God has blessed me to know Him in a number of ways (i.e., Redeemer, Provider, Comforter, etc.), but I had never met Him as the Stronghold Breaker. I knew that He could do it, but I had never experienced that breaking myself. I have spoken about this before in a previous devotional (Fear or Faith), but the stronghold of fear had invaded my spirit long before I was even consciously aware. I wouldn’t have known God that way if I would have never entered the situation in the first place.
Not only did I learn something in the midst of my dead situation, the other person did too. We were a blessing to each other, which admittedly, makes a dead situation harder to accept. The same can be said of the death of Lazarus; it was hard for his sisters to accept knowing how close Lazarus was to Jesus. Yet while Lazarus lay dead, Mary and Martha, his sisters, were soon to learn who Jesus really was. They were soon to witness what a blessing really looked like. Never before had a resurrection been done, but because of their dead brother, we would glimpse a portion of the glory of Christ.
Lastly, just as Mary and Martha didn’t understand the purpose of Lazarus dying, their pain was a doorway to a new thing, a new purpose, and personal growth. My dead situation will be one of two things, a resurrected situation under the authority and power of Christ or it will be the doorway into a new situation. Either way, there has been a purpose in my dead situation. I believe that in full faith.
Where in your life has there been a dead situation? Are you holding on to something dead? If so, recognize that by letting go, you will allow Christ to show you why it died in the first place.