Whenever Jesus gives us a command, you can expect Him to keep it and believe it himself. You have a lot of problems to deal with, and it’s easy to get tired. God has to deal with your problems and all of the problems in the world on top of that, but He never gets tired of it. These are his kids we’re talking about. He fights for us a lot, and we don’t even realize it most of the time.

It hurts God to see us when we suffer. But He sees the end too, so He knows that it’s worth it to stick it out.

Back in the day, when Lazarus died, his sisters cried for him. Jesus cried too, even though He was God and He knew that He would bring Lazarus back to life a couple minutes later. But everyone was mad at Jesus for not saving Lazarus before he died, either because they didn’t trust him, or else because they just didn’t understand how much more powerful it would be to delay just a little bit longer. If I were Lazarus, I would rather die and come back to life than just be healed like everyone else.

It would be a like a magic trick. The trick part doesn’t seem very nice, because you don’t get to see the whole picture. But then the magic happens, and you’re left in wonder and everyone starts clapping. And you end up kind of liking the magician after all.

God isn’t just aware of what you’re going through right now, and what everyone around you is going through. He is with you, and He feels it too. Jesus knows what it’s like to lose everything he has. He was a king on a throne who became a baby in a pigsty. He knows what it’s like to love someone and not have them love him back, except he loves them anyway. He knows what it’s like to have a close friend betray him.

It hurts. It hurts Jesus to see you hurt, to feel the pain you feel.

But I was thinking that, if you’re a Christian, I mean, if you believe that Jesus forgives you, then in the future you and God are already celebrating together right now. I’ve heard that God’s perspective on time is like when someone looks at a fishbowl. He is sitting outside the bowl on a couch, but He is in it at the same time, swimming and feeling the water go through his gills just like you. But since he is also outside of it, he can see everything at once. If we’ll be with Him in heaven, I think we can look back on our lives like that too.

Just think: right now, you’re outside of this fishbowl, on the couch with God – the you in Heaven after you died, looking at the you that’s in the fishbowl. You’re already with God, and you’re both looking back to this moment where you’re reading my blog. You’re looking at all of the trials that you two went through together. And you’re glad that you and Him stayed together after all.

I’m hoping that Heaven isn’t like this, that it’s more interesting than a living room. But what I do know is that God is with us in the big picture, in the things that we will forget, and the things we wish we could forget.

A girl from one of my favorite movies said, “I need to know that it’s possible that two people can stay happy together forever.” If there’s any one fish in the sea that I’d trust to stick with me like that, it’s God. I think I’ll try sticking with Him too. It will be really hard, but I know it’s the only way I’ll ever come alive.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9