CRUSHED BUT NOT DESTROYED 3 HE SHARES YOUR HURTS

because he cares for you

—1 Peter 5:7 NIV

Some years back, I was reading a devotional book. The writer said that "Jesus is hurt in your hurts." Due to the level of my adversity, I felt like deleting that statement. I simply told myself that if he actually hurt in my hurts, then let him deliver me from my travail and save both of us the hurts we are having. Yet day after day, the Lord kept proving that he indeed is hurt in my hurts, and there is a process, which he does not want to achieve prematurely. He would rather wait till the time is ripe so that he will do the harvest.

Through his spirit, he kept revealing to me that if a farmer harvests his crops prematurely, he will never achieve the full measure of his produce and that the farmland is crying out and weeping as a result of the much quantity of seeds the farmer sowed in it. If the farmer would pity his farmland and decide to do the harvest prematurely in order to save the land from its hurts, he has already nullified the purpose of cultivating that farmland and rendered the seeds useless for the next season, because the seeds have not matured and cannot stand on their own for the next season, therefore the chain of seed extension has been broken and has become useless for the purpose of its cultivation.

Ye have not chosen me, but I have

chosen you, and ordained you,

that ye should go and bring forth

fruit, and that your fruit should

remain…

(John 15:16 KJV)

The farmer and his farmland are both in pain, but the farmer has no other option than to wait for the harvest. He will not leave the farmland just like that; he must tend to it and wait for the harvest time. He will not harvest at the middle of the planting season; the seed must mature. Like the farmer, God will not harvest until we become mature.

Do you know that the goldsmith and gold also share pains? A goldsmith shares in the hurt of gold; both are laboring for a particular purpose. Though the gold does not enjoy the intense heat of the furnace, it will not prevent the smith from heating it to the required standard. Bottom line: even though we don't enjoy the fires of life, it will not make God to stop it, he will bring it to end at the right time. He cannot compromise the actual harvest time because of the adversity in your life. He cannot do the harvesting prematurely and present you half done to the world. Although he shares in your hurts, he is waiting for the harvest so that he will present you fully done to the world. He actually wants to achieve a good purpose in your hurts for his own glory.

The spirit later took me to the incidents that occurred in the life of Lazarus and his two sisters. They sent for Jesus, but because there was a purpose Jesus wanted to achieve, he delayed instead. He would've intervened immediately;, but the Holy Spirit made me understand that if Jesus had gone right away, he would not have accomplished that purpose. For that reason, Jesus had to delay. He had to wait for the harvest to fully mature.

Jesus said, take ye away the stone,

Martha, the sister of him that was

dead, saith unto him, Lord, by
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this time he stinketh: For he hath

been dead four days.

(John 11:39 kjv)

In that story, we saw that the harvest had fully matured, and Jesus instantly did the harvesting. What a great testimony that a stinky dead body was raised to life again! It was a great harvest and a great achievement of God's purpose.

Your situation pains Jesus, and your cry touches his heart. Your burden is his burden, and your sorrow is his sorrow. He shares in your hurts. Despite that, your groaning touches him, but he must let you fully reach the end of the process to make you an extraordinary person in your new life.

When Jesus was about to start his ministry on earth, God led him through a process. It was a process of fasting to prepare him for his ministry. If he had refused to go through that process, he would have succumbed in temptation. And when he was about to end his ministry, he met the worst, but God never did the harvest prematurely. Although Jesus wept bitterly, groaned profusely, beckoned on God for intervention, God never intervened because there was a purpose, and he wanted his dear Son to achieve the purpose in life. If God had intervened, Jesus would not have succeeded. Yet, God waited and Jesus endured it till the harvest time. Now, Jesus, what a glorious name, the hope of all glory, even the wind bows when it hears his name. I believed by now, you must have seen the reason why God waited to achieve his purpose in the life of Jesus despite his cries on the cross.

I do not know how long you must have been crying, weeping, and groaning because of your situation; I still see a divine purpose in that adversity. I want to let you know that Jesus knows, he sees, and he cares. Although our cries touch him, he is waiting for the harvest time. When it has fully matured, he will do the harvest. I read the story of an old saint in the medieval era that was passing through a period of great personal trouble. He once said: "Lord, it is no wonder you have so few friends if you treat your children this way," but I believe we have seen the reason for it.

Maybe you are still doubting that Jesus does not share in your hurts, for whatever reason or case you may present to justify your claims. You may call your adversity unlawful and unjust, but I'll keep telling you that Jesus does share in your hurts. Do you know that Jesus deeply sympathized with Mary and Martha, but they'd hardly believed it because of the situation at hand?

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the

Jews also weeping which came with her,

he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.

John 11:33 KJV

The gravity of your groaning touches Jesus, He shares in your trouble, shares in your hurts, weeps in your weeping. Friend, I want you to know that Jesus is still faithful no matter whatsoever your case might seem to be.

NOT UNTO DEATH BUT FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

Dear friend, I do not know what your own case is; but whatever it may be, whether pain, failure, sickness, trials, and test, I want to let you know that it is not unto death but for the glory of God.

In the case of Lazarus, his two sisters sent Jesus an urgent message to come to their rescue because the life of the only hope of their family was at stake. They saw the need for Jesus to be there on time before their brother passes away; but Jesus turned it all the way round, when he received the message, and he said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby" (John 11:4 KJV). Jesus saw that ugly situation as a means to glorify God, but others saw it as a deadly situation that needed an immediate attention. Yet, God's ways is very far beyond our ways. You may be in a situation where you may lose your life; but God does not see it that way, he rather sees it as a means to glorify his holy name.

When you are looking for God's immediate attention but he never shows up, remember that you can be crushed but cannot be destroyed.

Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and

backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left

hand, where he doth work, but I cannot see him:

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he

hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Job 23: 8–10 KJV

Jesus may have allowed the souls of Mary and Martha to be crushed but he never allowed them to be destroyed. You may be asking, why did Jesus allowed Mary and Martha to be crushed by the condition of their only brother? I can simply tell you that "Our Lord is in heaven, and he does what pleases him" (Psalm 115:3). Jesus stayed two more days to make sure that before he would reach Bethany—which was the country home of Lazarus—Jesus will achieve his purpose of raising him from death.

He went there when all things had gone wrong when his attention was little or no more needed; but in all situations, he still remain God. He never changed; Jesus does not agree that things are too late. Jesus is never late; he starts when logic fails and where human power ceased. Where human power ends is where God's power begins. People thought that Jesus was only going there for condolence since Lazarus is dead, but he went there to tell them that his strength was made perfect in our weakness.

Nothing has ever happened in the lives of Christians without a purpose. What God does not know will never happen, he allow things to happen for him to achieve his purpose. We have been deliberating on the achieved purpose of God in the life of Lazarus. I want you to believe that there is a purpose in whatever that is happening in your life. There is something the Lord wants to achieve through that situation which may not be unveiled to you now but will be unveiled later. What God requires is your total submission. When Jesus delayed to respond to the call of Martha and Mary for help, they never knew that there was a purpose God wanted to achieve in that situation.

Are you surprised that up to now Jesus has not responded to your cry and plea? Are you about to give up? Despite your midnight cries and tears, day-to-day fasting and praying, weeping and shedding of tears, and the most part of it is that the more you cry, the more the situation worsens. Despite all those method that you have applied, God has not yet shown up for your case. I still want to tell you that, there is a purpose he wants to achieve, and he is just waiting for the right time to come as he did in the case of Lazarus. God's right time could be in human calendar what is called too late but unto him that believes all things are possible, and God said "… Behold, I make all things new…," (Rev. 21:5 kjv). So even if you are seeing it as being too late, remember, God knows more than you, he will do it at his own time.

I want to tell you that God is delaying it for a divine purpose, not that he has forgotten you, no! He is just waiting for the appointed time, and when the Lord shall arise, both the chariots and its riders shall be destroyed. Whatever that opposes you, he will confront, but can you give him the chance to achieve his purpose in that situation? Remember, when Mary and Martha sent for Jesus and he delayed, the two sisters never rejected him but still gave him a chance to perform, which he did. Do not forget that God is never late in any situation no matter how painful it might seem to be.

Chapter end