[This is a repost while I am away on leave]
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Samwise Gamgee speaks of the great stories, the ones that really matter. He says, “Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.” In our lives, too, there are moments where it feels easier to give up hope and sink into despair. We have moments where fear and uncertainty take over. In these moment we will often cry out to God to fix the situation and so often it feels as if God does not answer. In these moments we are challenged to trust in God’s timing and as we will see his timing is always perfect for his purposes. Let’s have a look.
Scripture: John 11:1-16 (ESV)
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
The story of Lazarus is one of the most well known stories in the Bible. Here in John 11, we meet him for the first time in John and we are told that he was a man who was deeply loved by Jesus. But he is sick, so sick in fact that his sisters (Mary and Martha) send word to Jesus asking for help. By this time Jesus had already healed a lot of people and so surely he should be able to heal Lazarus too. John tells us about how Jesus responds to the invitation: “So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was”. What an interesting response. We would think that Jesus would quickly rush off to go and heal his friend, but instead he stays two more days. Jesus was not in a hurry, he was in fact waiting for Lazarus to die.
Now why would Jesus do this? Why would he delay? Because God’s glorification was the point – not the healing of Lazarus. God’s timing had to be waited out so that God could achieve his purpose with Lazarus’ death.
Now this would have been confusing for many people. It would have been confusing for Mary and Martha because they wouldn’t understand why Jesus didn’t come straight away. It was confusing for the disciples because when Jesus did decide to return, he was returning to a place where the people who wanted to kill him lived! But Jesus knows all about God’s timing. God’s timing is perfect. Jesus’ time to die had not yet come so he was under no threat when he returned.
Jesus goes on to explain that even through Lazarus does indeed die “This illness does not lead to death”. Jesus knew that Lazarus’ story didn’t end with his death at this time. No God’s timing was perfect in allowing enough time for Lazarus to die so that he could again be raised from the dead. Without first dying, Jesus could not glorify God by raising him from the dead.
Now we today live in a radically different period in redemption history. We live on the other side of the Cross and the people in the story did not have the same insight we do because they didn’t have the Bible. But we do, we can read this story and see God’s perfect timing. But we often act as if God’s timing isn’t perfect.
We often find ourselves in situations where w call out to God in our need, and we expect immediate answers. When the answers don’t come, or don’t come straight away, we may feel that God isn’t listening. But God’s timing is always purposeful. He will answer in his own time. Sometimes, like Lazarus, things may get worse before they get better. Sometimes we have to walk through death before being raised back to life.
The point is that no matter how slow God seems in answering our prayers, he always has a purpose with his timing.
The right question you should be asking is: “How can I glorify God while I wait?”.
Prayer:
Lord, help me trust in your timing, even when I don’t understand it. Remind me that your delays are part of your greater plan. Amen.
Spiritual Challenge:
Reflect on this question: “How can I glorify God while I wait?”.