Can We Hinder God?

John 11:30 “Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.”

John chapter 11 features a well know story about Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary. The chapter opens with Lazarus being sick and his sisters sending word to Him to come quickly, but Jesus stayed another two days where He was.

When He finally decided to come to the city where Lazarus was, he had already been in the grave for four days. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, the Scriptures tell us that, “Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.” (11:20)

Now the important word in the verse above is MET. In the Greek, it indicates that she came at Jesus to confront Him. She probably had at least four days of anger built up wanting to know why Jesus had not yet come. So when He was finally on the way, she was going to give Him a piece of her mind.

Now notice exactly what she said to Jesus, “Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” (vs 21) After she said this, they go back and forth over doctrine. Jesus was telling Martha the answer, but she was not in a frame of mind to hear. She did not want to hear anything from the Word.

Martha then leaves obviously frustrated with her encounter with Jesus; she obviously did not get whatever response she thought she was owed. When she arrives at home, she tells her sister Mary that Jesus has summoned her. Keep in mind that Mary sat still in the house while Jesus was coming.

Next, the Bible says, “As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.” (vs. 29) Here notice that Mary CAME UNTO Jesus. In the Greek, this gives the idea of when being summoned by a Superior. She came to Jesus with a different heart than her sister.

Here are verses 30-32, “Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”

Notice three things about the passage above: (1) Jesus was stopped in his tracks right where Martha confronted Him; (2) Mary came to Him in a reverent and submissive manner and fell at His feet in worship, even in this grievous situation; (3) She said EXACTLY the same words to Jesus as her sister in the opening sentence.

Now Martha’s confrontational style earned her a free theological lesson and stopped Jesus from coming any closer. Now let us see the fruit of Mary’s approach in verses 33-35: “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept.”

Mary and Martha used the exact same words to their Lord, but came to Him with different hearts, spirits and motives. Martha actually stopped Jesus temporarily from doing the miracle He was going to do, whereas the humility and reverence of Mary’s heart caused Jesus to groan in His Spirit, be troubled and to weep…not to mention He went and raised Lazarus from the dead.

Just because we can “Boldly go before the Throne of Grace.” Does not mean that we should do so arrogantly or presumptuously as if God owes us something. If we do, we can actually hinder God from working.

Some may not be comfortable with this idea of us 'hindering God,' but I do believe it is Scriptural. Notice just a sample below:

Matthew 13:56,57 - "⁵⁷And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. ⁵⁸And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief."

See here that the Lord Himself is hindered from doing many miracles because of their unbelief. It was their unbelief that hindered the Lord.

 

 

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