Believing in “THIS” – to see someone raised from the dead? Whoa! Isn’t that a little too much to hope for?

“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:10-11 

(Continued from 4/19 Post) . . . The realization that Carl Benson was dead was sinking in. The dark sadness began to take hold.

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But, we resisted the feelings of hopelessness and pushed on praying for God to come to Carl’s rescue.

A wave of feeling totally inadequate to the level of faith required to see Carl healed came over me. Again, I resisted now accepting the notion that Carl might be gone changing my prayers to allow that if he is gone, you God can resurrect him. I whispered, “God, resurrect Carl!” The others joined in with similar supplications – begging God to do THIS.

Suddenly, a calm reassurance swept over me. God would indeed do THIS! In my experiencing THIS was a rare feeling of certainty that God was actually doing what we were asking. Then I heard a loud cough followed by more coughing and deep gasping for air.

Sounds of surprise and great relief and calling out thanks to God filled the room from those working on Carl. I could hear the comments from the medical team saying that they thought Carl was gone and had given up on reviving him when the spark of life caused Carl to convulse back into this realm.

One of the doctors, who was a professor of emergency medicine, later shared that he was “astounded” that Carl was alive. Word is that the Doctor continues to share the story of this miracle in the halls of Yale Medicine.

Before we knew it the EMTs arrived and swept Carl away. The room emptied leaving the prayer group standing in stunned silence, shaking our heads while wiping away tears.

We all sat down feeling shocked and exhausted. Did that really just happen? A level of disbelief still hovered over us. We tried to debrief and then fell into praising God for his goodness, grace and power continuing to pray for Carl’s full recovery. Would Carl survive this?

Soon our time was up and we left the room rejoicing at seeing another great thing God had done, all being fully convinced we had not only seen but were privileged to be part of a true miracle of biblical proportion.

One day, I have this longing . . .

The next day I tried to recount the event in my mind and I think it was only then that I remembered Wayne Detzler’s words shared moments before Carl’s lifeless body was carried into the Lounge, “One day, I have this longing to see someone actually raised from the dead!” Did God decide right then to honor Wayne’s lifelong desire?

Unfortunately, I’m not sure we as a church fully appreciated this as the miraculous healing that it was. From my vantage point, this was an event that should have been shouted from the mountaintops and written on the walls – God did an absolute miracle here!

• Habakkuk 2:2 “Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.”
• Isaiah 49:13 “Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.”

As it turned out Carl Benson lived for only a few weeks before his weakened heart gave out and he passed on to be in glory with his Savior. So, really, how much of a miracle could this have been and what was God’s purpose for it?

Why did God raise Carl back to life?

Carl, as far as I knew him, was a good and faithful servant of God – a saint just like all Christ-Followers. But why Carl and why then?

1. Did God decide to honor Wayne’s lifelong desire to see someone raised from the dead at poor Carl’s expense?
2. Did Carl endure this agony just so a handful of us praying could be encouraged in our prayer walk?
3. Was this a show of God’s generosity to allow Carl another chance to spend real meaningful time with those he loved?

Well, I believe the answer is YES to all of these and probably numerous other reasons. I’d say our God is an amazing multi-tasker who raised Carl from death to life for a whole host of reasons.

Personally, I’d say that most importantly, just like Lazarus’ death was used to awaken the disciples to the Father’s power in Jesus, not only over death but over the grave. Carl’s resurrection was another show by God to awaken us to this great power at a time when our church was a bit anxious about it’s future. To remind us in a very tangible way that He not only has conquered death but is alive and still conquering death!

I’m afraid that all too often, in our comfortable, intellectual; “there must be a rational explanation to everything” Christianity we fail to fully celebrate what God can do that is beyond our understanding. We are uncomfortable with answers that require faith alone and we feel compelled to rationalize God as only working through ways and things our pea-brains can fully understand.

It seems to me that when God shows up in an unbelievable way we are given the choice to 1. Accept it as a flat out miracle giving God all the credit. Or, 2. Rely on other explanations (Say a defibrillator). Even today there are plenty of Christians still trying to explain away the miracle of Lazarus’ resurrection.

But, here is the deal, as I see it. If we choose to give God all the credit and all the praise he deserves – if we choose to press in even more, I believe it is then that we see God do even greater things. Is it possible that what caused Jesus to groan and to weep causes God to groan and to weep today? – that we fail to believe all that He is and are disappointed when He doesn’t show up in the ways we want?

Hebrews 11:6 says – But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is (shows up) to reward those who diligently seek Him.

Is it “we” who shortchange ourselves by putting limits on what God can do?

Matthew 9:28-29 – And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do THIS?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” 

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not about God’s love for us. That does not waver. He loves us at whatever level of faith we have, but if we put limits to our faith, He honors us up to that limit. He doesn’t intrude but He always encourages us further. He loves us just as a parent loves a child who may not fully appreciate how much the parent loves or cares are wants the best for them.

On Resurrection Sunday, do we BELIEVE God will show up to reward us when we diligently seek Him? In the Gospel of John, Jesus declares that He is the resurrection and the life. He then asks Martha, Sure, you believe in God, “Do you believe THIS?”

The “THIS” Jesus was talking about was not just about raising someone from the dead. They knew Jesus could do that. It was about believing God could do something that was absurdly impossible. In this case, it was raising to life a cadaver already prepared by the “embalming” of the day (cleaned and rubbed with pounds of spices and oil), completely wrapped in cloths and left decaying 4 days in a sealed grave – i.e. exhuming a corpse and having it come back to life. (The precursor for Jesus’ own wonderful resurrection)

Do you believe God even for THIS?

I thank God for the resurrection miracle of Carl Benson amongst us. For God showing us that He still does the impossible.

This Easter Sunday, even as we believe in God, let’s start believing in more of THIS about God.

Happy Easter – Our Savior is ALIVE!