Down and Then Up

God reveals Himself in the Bible by various means. He can reveal some truth by an explicit and straightforward verse like, 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.' He can also reveal more indirectly. So, there is no one verse that reveals the fact of the Trinity. It's when you put several verses together and understand what they imply that you can see this truth about God. As we saw last week, He also reveals things to us through images. 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death …' This week we're going to make use of another way that God reveals Himself. This week we're going to look at a pattern in the Bible. We're doing this because what happened with Lazarus, Mary and Martha in John 11 fits a biblical pattern. And this pattern is something that you can see in your own life. The pattern can be labeled 'down and then up'.

Let's first establish this pattern. And to do that we're going to take a quick look at a few of the places in the Bible where it shows up.

Joseph was Jacob's favorite. And it showed because he got the special coat. But as his life unfolded, he was brought down from that high point. He became a slave in Egypt. But after enduring that, Joseph was lifted up again. He became second in command in all the kingdom of Egypt. So, you could graph Joseph's life as down and then up. Then, there is Moses. He starts out as a son in Pharaoh's household. But life takes a hard turn. So, he runs for his life and becomes a lowly shepherd in the boondocks of Midian. But then, there is the experience of the burning bush. Moses becomes a prophet of God like no other and leads the people of Israel to the Promised Land. Again, it's down and then up. We see the same thing in David though it's a little more involved. He starts out as a shepherd and is anointed to be the king. Now, there's a big up. But what follows? A bigger down: years of being chased by King Saul. David becomes an outlaw running for his life. But with the death of Saul, he is enthroned and becomes the greatest king of Israel. Down and then up. I could mention others like Job or Peter. But the climax of this pattern is Jesus Himself. He emptied Himself but then was highly exalted over all things. Down and then up.

There is the pattern. Someone is moving through life and then something happens. Life gets hard. Down. But then, there is a resolution to that problem. Things are fixed and life resumes. Up. But here I need to add a little something. Life after the up is better than life before the down. There is progress, improvement, a greater experience of real life. So, it's down and then it's up, but it's a higher up.

And that's what we see in this situation with Lazarus and Mary and Martha. Life was going along when something terrible happened. Lazarus becomes seriously ill. Down. Jesus lets him die. Bigger down. But then, Jesus raises him from the dead. Up. But life is not just restored to what it was. It has changed. Now it's lived a bit differently, on a higher plane than before. How can it not? They have experienced a miracle. And that changes how one looks at life. It certainly changed how they looked at Jesus. The up does not just return things to where they were. The up lifts life higher than where it was before the down.

There's the pattern. And God is revealing something by this pattern. He is revealing how He deals with you. One of the ways that He matures you is by this pattern of down and then up. This is one way that He gives you a greater experience of the gift of His life, eternal life. This is one way that He makes you more like Jesus. Bear in mind that Jesus' own life was all about down and then up.

So, do you see what I've done? I've given you a tool to understand your life. This can help you understand parts of your past. And it can be very helpful as you deal with parts of your future. It can help you understand what God is doing. Down and then up.

Now there are some particular lessons I want to draw from this pattern. For one thing, this means that encountering a down should not surprise you. Words are fascinating. Two people can say the very same sentence, and yet intend two very different meanings. Consider this sentence: 'Why is this happening to me?' That question can be raised with the attitude of, 'This isn't fair. I don't like it. I don't deserve it. God, fix it right now!' That attitude can show up when someone is not expecting any downs. He has believed the lie that life is supposed to be this gentle slope moving upward into ever-increasing experiences of 'the good life'. But the Spirit has never promised that to you. But what if you know that a down will come? What if you know these will come your way and you are prepared for them? You can ask that same question, 'Why is this happening to me?' But you can ask it with a different attitude. You can ask the question simply trying to understand what God is doing. You can ask the question wanting to work with God and not against Him. The goal is to move through the down and into that up. So, expect the downs. They will come. They have come.

The biblical examples of this pattern that I gave you were all large, life-changing crisis situations. But the downs don't have to be large. They actually can be quite small. Here, think about some of those relatively small disappointments you have faced. Nothing earth-shattering. It was a little down. But little downs still lead to ups. In fact, it's dealing well with these smaller downs that will prepare you for the larger ones which, in turn, will lead to larger ups.

Now, you need to expect these downs. But be careful how you understand them. I don't want anyone to become a stoic in the face of these downs. We are not to be unfeeling when evil comes our way. We are not to pass it off as if it didn't hurt. I would remind you that when Jesus stood at Lazarus' tomb He was both deeply grieved and deeply angry. He was anything but stoical. That you should expect to face these down situations does not mean that you should minimize the evil that they bring into your life. That God uses evil for good does not make that evil any less evil. What Joseph's brothers did to him was just plain wrong. Joseph acknowledged that when, afterward, he told them, 'You meant it for evil…' We are to despise evil wherever we see it. We are to long for the day when there will be no evil. However, when evil comes your way you can respond wisely by labeling it accurately. 'God has brought this evil into my life. He has given me a down, but it will lead to an up.' Evil is evil but God can use it for good.

And that leads to this. We acknowledge the down and its evil, but we do not focus on it. Responding wisely will include focusing on the up. You may not know what that up will be. Joseph had no clue about the up in his future as he suffered the down. Most of the time you, likewise, will not have a clue about the coming up that God intends. But you can remind yourself that there is an up coming. And that is something to include in your prayers. As you pray for the ability to deal with the evil of the down, pray for the ability to continue to hope for the up. A good verse here is from Hebrews 12.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

When you are in the midst of the down, life is painful, sometimes greatly so. But hold on to the promise of fruit that it will yield, the up.

It's also important to recognize that there is a gap between the experience of the down and the experience of the up. In some cases the gap is pretty small. Peter experienced the down of his denial of Jesus and then the up of his restoration over just a few days. But the gap might be larger. Joseph had to wait for thirteen years of slavery before he became second in the kingdom. Moses waited forty years as a forgotten shepherd before God called him at the burning bush. And it needs to be said that, in some cases, the up might not even be in this life. It might be something to be experienced after your resurrection. Whether long or short, there will be a time of waiting. And that poses a problem. As a culture, we are not a patient people. We do not want to wait. But one of the lessons of down and then up is that waiting is a part of this life. And the waiting that God calls for is not restless, impatient waiting, but waiting in hope, waiting in the assurance that God will keep His promise. He can give you the ability to be at peace while you wait. He can give you the quiet confidence that the up will arrive. It's just a matter of time.

And that, of course, leads to this. All of this requires that you trust the Father. When life is moving along fine, you need to trust the Father because you know that a down is coming. But you trust Him to custom build that down so that it is exactly what you can deal with. And when you are in the midst of a down, you trust the Father to get you through that and into the promised up. The failure to trust Him will ruin it all. You will not make the progress in becoming like Jesus that you might. And, as a result of that failure, you just might find yourself stuck in a down, no longer able to respond with trust so that the Father might bless you with the up. The most important preparation for all of this is being able to trust the Father. And that is something that will be given to those who ask the Father for it. Once again, it all comes back to prayer.

Now, why am I telling you these things? It's important that I tell you these things because this is how life works: down and then up. This is reality. It may not define every day, but you will experience it often enough that you need to understand it. Life isn't a gentle slope ever upward into greater creature comfort. That isn't how God runs this universe. His plan for you includes down and then up. And understand His reason for dealing with your life in this way. This is how you become like Jesus. And that is something that the Father has set His heart on. So, just as Jesus learned through suffering and became wise through suffering - through down and then up - so will you. And becoming like Jesus is the route to happiness, complete happiness. Refusing to follow along with God's plan of down and then up will mean that you will miss out. This is the way to enjoy life abundantly.

But that's not the most important reason why I need to tell you these things. Remember that your happiness isn't the priority of this universe. God's honor is. And a life submitted, in hope, to the pattern of down and then up reveals something of the beauty of God to those around you. And that, of course, is why you exist. A life like this will shine in our increasingly dark world. It will shine for Jesus. And that's why this is so important.