"Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died" (John 11:21).
Of course she was wrong. The plain truth of the matter is that Lazarus had died just because, in a truer sense than Martha could understand, the Lord was there! She did not know that her brother's sickness was "not unto death," that is, it was not part of Death's campaign and triumph, but was directly ordered "for the glory of God." It was actually planned by the Love that permitted it to take its course, and was meant to set the stage for the mightiest display of Christ's power, the most convincing declaration of His Godhead. But this Martha could not know. She had to learn--and she did learn--that His love outstrips all fleetness of the human mind, that it is always ahead of the conceptions and prayers of His followers, that when the lesser is denied it is as a preparation for the gift of the greater, that the measure of His power is "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think"--be our thoughts never so extravagant.
