Why are babies born with gunk on them? I mean, they could be born completely clean with everything ready to go except for the hairbow color of choice. But they aren’t. God seems to have a design in us receiving things that still need some work done on them. Did you ever notice that? He gives His people the land of Canaan, but they have to fight a few nations to subdue it. He gives Adam and Eve a garden, but they have to tend it.
Jesus could have said, “Lazarus, come forth” and willed him to come forth in a white robe and new shoes. But He didn’t. He had Lazarus to come forth exactly as he went in: bound hand and foot with grave clothes. That must have been an interesting feeling. Here is Lazarus alive — full of life, but he had to be loosed before he could even benefit from his resurrection. I wonder what went through his mind.
So don’t expect God to simply do it all for you. He has plenty of gracious gifts to bestow upon you. But perhaps they will come with a label like “Some assembly required.”
