In John 11 we find another instance of men being dissatisfied with the Lord. Martha said to the Lord, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 21). She was blaming the Lord for arriving late. She was saying in her heart, “I sent men to ask for You a long time ago. Why did You not come sooner? Because of Your delay, my brother has died and has been buried.” The phrase if You had been here expresses Martha’s extreme unhappiness. Apparently, Martha’s words were absolutely right. But the Lord did everything with deliberation. He purposely stayed where He was for two more days (v. 6). In man’s eyes this was a delay, but the Lord Jesus purposely delayed His coming. Our Lord never apologizes to anyone, because He is never wrong. We apologize, because we are often wrong. If we refuse to apologize, it means that we are arrogant. The more humble and meek we are, the more we will apologize. Although our Lord is humble and meek, He never apologizes, because He is never wrong. When we are unhappy with Him, our unhappiness does not make Him feel guilty, for He knows what He is doing.
We can find many cases like these in the New Testament. In reading the Bible we have to learn to apply the principle of gathering together all the portions which speak of similar things. From the above three examples, we can discover one glorious fact: The Lord never takes back one word that He has said; He never turns back on a pathway that He has trodden. What a glory this is! Was it more glorious for Lazarus to be healed or for him to be resurrected? The Lord knew that it was more glorious for Lazarus to be resurrected. If we believe, we will see God’s glory.
Sometimes men were not only dissatisfied with the Lord; they even tried to teach the Lord. The disciples said, “Why has this waste of the ointment been made? For this ointment could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and given to the poor” (Mark 14:4-5). They were teaching the Lord. The disciples could think of another way to dispose of the ointment-sell it and give it to the poor. But the Lord knew what Mary was doing. He said that she was doing a noble deed. The Lord never does one thing or says one thing that He is not clear about. He needs no one to correct Him. Only a foolish man will try to correct the Lord or teach Him.
When the Lord indicated to the disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem, Peter said, “God be merciful to You, Lord!” What did the Lord say? He said, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt. 16:21-23). Peter wanted to teach the Lord, but it did not work. On the contrary, he only exposed his own foolishness.
Once the Lord Jesus ate at the house of Simon the Pharisee. A woman stood at the Lord’s feet weeping, wetting His feet with her tears, and wiping them with the hair of her head. Simon thought in his heart, “This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching Him” (Luke 7:39). Here we should pay attention to Simon’s spirit. He seemed to be saying, “Look what kind of woman she is. How can You allow her to come near to You at Your feet?” Although Simon did not open his mouth, the Lord knew what he was thinking, and He spoke about different kinds of forgiving. In effect the Lord was saying, “You, Simon, did not wash My feet, because you have experienced little forgiveness. This woman experienced much forgiveness. This is the reason she wet My feet with her tears.” Once we have such an impression, we will realize how foolish it is for man to try to be the Lord’s counselor! At the same time, we will know a Jesus of Nazareth that we did not know before.
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