"Lord, if you had just been here, if you had come when we called... this could have been avoided..." This desperate cry is made by Martha, the ever practical sister of Lazarus after his death. (John 11:21).
Mary, weeping, echoes the same thought in verse 32.

Oh, how I relate to them in times when You are silent. Lord, I send up a cry for salvation from the pit I've dug myself into, and you remain away.
Why didn't You go directly to heal Lazarus, Your friend? Surely You weren't afraid of being stoned. No... but why?

"This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so God's son may be glorified through it." (vs. 4)
Lord, You loved that family. Yet You didn't move right when they called. You waited for the opportune time when God (and You, as God) would be most glorified, as always. But how this must have tortured Your human-ness. No matter how secure and positive we are of the Father's will being good and perfect, it isn't easy by any means to wait for a command to go.

Mary fell at Your feet. What an amazing woman. O that I may have the passion of Mary to always be at Your feet being taught or crying out in humility!

"Jesus wept." The shortest verse in the whole written Word, but surely one of the most powerful. When men cry it's moving, but when GOD Himself cries, something important is going on. Jesus, do You have a unique love for each of Your children? Why did You weep when You knew Lazarus would be with You always? Because you are man-God. And man experiences deep emotion at the death of a friend.

Praise my Jesus! Your great name be praised! "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16)

You know. You understand every feeling I have. Even guilt. Yes, some would try to argue that You don't understand guilt, but they forget that upon Your shoulders the cross rested with such a great load of sin and guilt... unimaginably huge. Not just my sin, every single bit of my sin, but the sins of all Your chosen.
May I be like Mary waiting in submission and brokenness at Your feet.

(an except from my prayer journal that I particularly love)
Sarah