I was reading over the comments from yesterday’s Twelfth Hour Answers and something dawned on me. I kept thinking about the word emergency. And suddenly, I saw something. If you creatively break the word down into its parts, you get “emerge and see.”

And that is exactly what happens in the story of Lazarus later in the book of John chapter 11.

We learned yesterday how Jesus weeps with us when we mourn a loss, even when His greater purpose is to bring a miracle of life into our dead circumstances. We see Him do this with Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus. And we experience the same thing in our own lives when He suddenly shows up right when we think it’s too late for a dramatic change.

Now, we get to the rest of the story – the part where the emergency turns into the “emerge and see.”

It’s four days after the tragic death of the beloved Lazarus. He’s not only dead. He’s really, really dead. The crisis for the moment has abated and has now turned into resignation amongst the two sisters, who are just too emotionally spent to hope against hope that now that the Master has returned, He will do the miraculous. It’s too much for the ladies to wrap their minds around.

And, honestly, you can’t blame them. When you have prayed all you can and cried all you can and hoped and waiting and travailed in your human strength, it’s just too much to keep vigilantly beseeching God. You want too, but you are too exhausted to ask anymore.

Now, let’s get back to the text in John 11:43-44, because I think it will inspire us:

“When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go’” (NIV).

Out from the shadows comes a once dead guy, called forth into the light by the Lord Himself. But he can’t see a thing. It’s only after Jesus steps in again and commands a second action, this time to the folks around Lazarus to help him out of his old clothes.

When you have been in crisis, emerging once again into life takes a two-step process. It takes being willing to walk to where you hear the Lord calling out to you and bravely surrendering into the light once again. And then it takes being surrounded by an active Christian community who can unwrap your wounds with care and precision with the Lord as the guide.

Part of our ability to see the true tale of where we have been and where we are going in the aftermath of a crisis rests on our willingness to make ourselves vulnerable to the body of Christ. We can’t heal in isolation. We can’t fully understand with spiritual eyes the destiny we have been walking in until our Christian brothers and sisters provide some assistance. For God’s people are truly the hands and feet of Christ.

I hope you are encouraged today to understand that not only was Jesus compassionate in weeping with those who mourn, but He also understood the total need for process. When you are going through tragic circumstances, you need someone who understands your helplessness and has both the power and compassion to bring an answer. Jesus does it once again in healing Lazarus. He gives Lazarus a little time to adjust to the light again. He demonstrates that in Christian community there is healing. He understands that we need step-by-step instructions when our brains have been reeling from exhaustion and sadness. I just love that about Him.

So, next time you hear the word emergency, think emerge and see.

What we typically react to as a crisis, a tragedy, an emergency is, in fact, not the full story. If we could gain God’s perspective on our lives, with His help through revelation from the Holy Spirit, we would come out of our dark cave of mourning, throw off those stinky grave clothes, and see with freshly hope-filled eyes of faith the powerful presence of the Lord in our midst.

– Laura J. Bagby