Lenten Devotion: God Raises the Dead! (John 11:28-44)
Day 29 – 7 Apr 2025
“Lazarus, come out!” John 11:43
Medically there is a lack of well documented evidence of people being raised from the dead, which makes it hard to see the relevance of this account. Often we have prayed and still continue to pray for friends and families who were/are sick but see no tangible results. As such I struggle to pray for healing as I am unable to understand why God does not answer our prayers for healing.
Yet as I pondered this passage, it dawned on me that God has already raised many ‘Lazaruses’ over the past five decades of my life. Not that I had come close to physical death multiple times; whilst in the midst of difficult moments, I dare say I felt ‘dead’ on the inside, in my mind and spirit.
Life was tough from the day I was born as my late parents were already separated by that time. I was moved from place to place and could not understand why I suffered both physically and emotionally under the very hands of people who are supposedly family. It did not help, that my registered ‘surname‘ was starkly different from my siblings.
As I reflected on this, I see God raising a ‘Lazarus’ in my life, time and again. It also dawned on me that it is not just a physically raising of the ‘dead’, but a spiritual and mental re-awakening as well.
I recount how my eldest child was ‘raised’ from her cardiac issue at nine weeks old and how the Lord helped navigate me through marriage and career. Though we still struggle, let us continue to trust and wait for the Lord to spiritually raise us and our children. The timing is not ours to determine, but his.
Just as he had stayed two more days before going to Lazarus’ tomb, know that the Lord’s love for us, and our children included, far outweighs what we can fathom. In His time, he will call them out of their ‘tombs’. All we need do, is watch and pray. Whatever form of ‘Lazarus’ that exists in your life, know that when the time comes, he will raise you to life.
Jenny Chow🙏✝