In the end, John 11:17-35 obliterates the notion that the God of Scripture is a distant God, who may be high and exalted, but is largely uninvolved in the affairs of his people. If Jesus is the exact representation of God, then we can be certain that is not the case based on what we see here in John 11.
In fact, in 1 Pet. 5, the Apostle Peter instructs all Christians to pursue humility by casting all your cares upon him because he cares for you. We manifest faith in Christ’s power as well when we do this. The alternative is refusing to take our griefs to God because we have lost trust in him—“I cared about this loved one so deeply and you took him or her away. I can’t go through this emotional turmoil anymore, therefore, I’m not going to care that deeply about anyone or anything else at that level again.”
What is that saying?—”Christ’s power is no match for my grief. Now that I have this grief, there’s nothing he can do about it.” In this case, our obsessive thoughts can be likened to the conclusion of Mary, Martha and the Jews in John 11–“If you had just been willing to act, Lord, then this wouldn’t have happened.” It’s here that we need to remember the principles from last week or else are we saying that he can’t glory in the situation nor can he show his love for us in it, and he can’t demonstrate his sufficiency in our lives and he can’t work this out for our greater good? This is unbelief, beloved, and only those who believe that death is no obstacle for Christ’s power will affirm their confidence in him and take their griefs to him.