This guided Christian meditation in John 11 reminds us that Jesus is with us in our pain and grief.

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Often life just doesn’t make sense.

Pain, death, disease, evil.

We believe God is bigger than all of these things, so why do they still happen.

I identify with Mary when she runs out to meet Jesus after her brother, Lazarus, died. She said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Mary is asking why. This is normal—but getting stuck there is detrimental.

Becoming fixated on why can breed fear and anxiety as they lead to wondering when something else bad will happen, or if this pain will ever end.

We rarely receive answers to our why questions.

What we do receive is exactly what Jesus offered Mary—his presence, his compassion, and his empathy.

Jesus grieved with Mary’s family and community.

Just as he grieves with us when we are in pain.

If you’ve been wrestling with why Jesus allowed something in your life, I’m praying he will use this meditation to comfort you with the reminder that he is with you and he loves you.

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The whole meditation text is as follows:

John 11:32–37, NIV

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?

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