Aha!

At one point on Sunday, Mark Howell mentioned those times when one is reading scripture and suddenly has an "aha" type of moment. I have experienced that before, but not in a while... until tonight. I was reading through John as part of my journey through the gospels and I got to the passage in chapter 11 in which Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. I have heard this story, and read it myself, a hundred different times; but tonight something stood out to me that I probably would have just skipped over most other times. Here is the passage:

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." John 11:38-44 (ESV)

For me, the aha moment lies in verse 40. I have been praying, for a rather long time, for God to just show up big in my life. Praying that His Holy Spirit would be evident in my life. That I would be sensitive to the Spirit in my life and that God would reveal himself to me. Lately, I have been frustrated, because things haven't been happening on my time table. I read this passage, and this verse, and I felt like I was punched in the stomach (in a good way), "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God." I don't know if it gets much clearer than that. So, as I pray and as I wait, I will continue to believe, and in His timing (not mine), I will be able to witness the glory of God. Praise God.