“Mary and Martha had sent a message to Jesus stating that their brother Lazarus, the one whom Jesus loved, was ill” (John 11:3). “So when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was” (vs 6). Upon His arrival two days later Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here my brother would not have died” (vs 21).
Why did Jesus delay? Wasn’t He the Giver of Life, the Great Healer? You can hear their confusion. They even remind Him that they are not strangers - and that Jesus loved Lazarus, and yet, He still delayed. Their grief and confusion overshadowed a bigger miracle taking place.
By waiting two more days, and not rushing in to make everything better, a “Crowd of Jews had gathered around Mary and Martha to comfort them concerning their brother” (vs 19). This miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead would now be seen by many people, assuring them that Jesus was God come in the flesh. The timing of this wasn’t random either, as Jesus was soon to be crucified. His words that He had spoken about “Rising on the third day,” would now be understood. Jesus can raise the dead! He IS the Messiah! He had a plan in His delay, and it was good!
How often do we feel like God isn’t answering our prayers fast enough, or on our imminent schedule? We go so far as to question His love for us, or like the disciples in the storm-tossed boat with Him, we question how much He cares… “Don’t You care that we may die?”
It’s so important that we see God’s timing as a delay with purpose. If it was up to us, we would’ve pulled Joseph from the pit and scolded his evil brothers. We would’ve prevented his abduction to Egypt with all our righteous might, and by stepping in instead of letting God act, we would’ve robbed the entire nation of Israel from being saved from certain death.
The same could be said of Esther. Oh, how we would’ve prevented her from being born in exile and taken from her family. How quickly we would’ve wanted to save her from a power-hungry system that only saw her value in her beauty. Once again, we would’ve robbed the Jewish people from being spared from national genocide.
We, too quickly, jump to conclusions that hardship and waiting is wrong. But what we need to keep before us continually, is that God has a plan in our waiting that is bigger and better than what our minds could ever come up with. He hasn’t forgotten us. Wait, dear ones, but pray. He has a plan. And it is eternally good!
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