... When your prayers seem to go unanswered, do you feel like God is not listening? Does this mean that we only believe God when He does things according to how we think He should act?

Unbelieving "Ifs

Therefore Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died." - John 11:21



Would Lazarus have died if Jesus had been there? If Jesus loved this family from Bethany so much why did He remain where He was for two days after the messenger came bearing the news of Lazarus' sickness? Why did He say the He was glad He had not been there before Lazarus died (v. 14)?

One thing at least we know, it better that Lazarus should not be cured, but should die, and then that Christ's power should be shown in his resurrection. It was therefore an unbelieving “if”, and a groundless one, which fell from Martha's lips.

We are all apt to let similar “ifs” drop from our lips when trouble comes to us. If we had only tried another doctor, or taken the matter in hand a little sooner, our friend had not died. We sometimes feel that sorrow is proof that God does not hear our prayers, because if He did then the hardship would have been avoided. Yet we have but to read this story through to the end to see that Christ's way was the better way here, as it always is the better way.