When God is silent, do not frantically search for answers. Only continue your regular time in His Word and know the Spirit is in the process of helping you understand what God is doing in your life.

One of my favorite interactions with Jesus is that of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. I love the idea that Jesus, knowing He is going to raise Lazarus, still waits and weeps with Mary and Martha. What enormous compassion! He did not need to weep with them. He knew he was going to resurrect Lazarus in just moments.

But something else strikes me today. Remember when He waited to go until after Lazarus had been dead for 4 days already? He shows up and Martha says, "Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (John 11:32) Here is something to think about: I think Jesus could have said, "You're right! If I had come when you asked, your brother would not have died."

She knew Jesus would heal him. After all, she had see him heal time and time again. It is as though he was saying, "You would not have come to know me more and deeper than you are about to know me. You would not have been prepared for an even greater revelation of me than you had already known."

God's silence in our lives means He is prepared to bring into your life an even greater revelation of Himself than you have ever known. When God is silent, start watching for what he is about to teach you about Himself. This will require faith, trust, and anticipation.

As soon as Jesus calls Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus is still not free. He is still bound by the grave clothes. Jesus does not unwrap him. No, the very Jesus who just breathed life into a man did not unwrap the binding grave clothes. He has some other guys do it. Why would he do that? He is perfectly capable of unbinding him with a snap of a finger or a word of his mouth.

Jesus knew the very people who wrapped him will unwrap him. Now, many of us are Christians. Many of us have been a Christian for a long time, but are we still free? DO we still feel free? There are still grave clothes.

I need the reminder, the gospel, every single day. Without it, I forget the gospel and its efforts to change me each day.

I need the people around me. I need the accountability of my gift of grace. I need the accountability of my good friends. I need that challenge to always get back to the gospel, the milk, the simple identity of Abba's Child. I need those around me to help unwrap me. Yes, God is capable of unwrapping me myself. He is perfectly capable of doing it with just a word, but I need to have my brothers as well to unwrap the grave clothes that bind me. It is God's design.