Who Does the Lord Upbraid and Who Does He Visit

I was in Mark 16 this past week studying and pondering and noticed a few things that were very inspiring about the Lord.

In James 1:5-6 we learn that the Lord does not upbraid, to find fault with or scold, those that lack wisdom and ask of God. He wants us to ask, knock and seek answers from Him.

In Mark 16:14 the Lord appears to the eleven and upbraids them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen. He is referring to the witnesses of Mary Magdalene, to whom He appeared first, and of the two He appeared to in another form as they walked and went into the country (Mark 16:9-13).

It is so interesting that the eleven apostles were unbelieving but a woman and two other disciples were able to see Him and testify that He lived again. A couple key principles; 1- the Lord can appear to anyone that He desires to visit, 2- one doesn’t need to be an apostle to be a witness of the resurrected Lord, 3- those that are witnesses can be commanded to share their witness with others and 4- many will not believe on the witness of those who testify of the risen Christ.

I have noticed that the Lord doesn’t seem to be angry or upset with those that ask questions and seek further light and knowledge. In fact, He commands us to do so. He does upbraid, or find fault with or scold, those that are unbelieving and hard in their hearts. We ought to seek the Lord, to have our own personal witness of the Lord, Jesus Christ. I testify that He lives and is a real person, a loving God who visits His people in grace. I invite all of us to listen to the witnesses of others and allow these witnesses to increase our faith in boldly approaching the Lord for ourselves, to know of a surety that He lives.