Waiting for God to Come

Friday, November 15, 2019 by Lara Cook
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. John 11:4-5

Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus were close friends of Jesus.  He spent time at their house regularly and when Lazarus became seriously ill, they did what we all would do – sent word to their good friend.  Jesus wasn’t just a good friend, He was their savior too, and they had seen Him heal people and perform miracles. They knew He had the power to heal Lazarus, so they were calling on Him to come, because He loved Lazarus, and heal him too. The little word “So” tells us that Jesus chose to wait two more days before going to Lazarus.  It wasn’t that He couldn’t go, He chose to wait, and then it was several more days before He actually made it back to Bethany. Verse 17 of chapter 11 says when Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.  He found Mary and Martha mourning and they pretty much told Him that He was too late. They told Him He should have been there sooner, and then Lazarus would not have died.  Jesus told Martha that her brother would rise again, and she replied that she knew he would rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus told her I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.  Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead that day.  He wanted them to see Him for who He was, not for what He could do.  It is who He is that makes Him so powerful, not what He does for us.

We don’t always get our prayers answered like that. We ask and wait and sometimes He doesn’t show up for a while – or at all – at least in the way we are expecting.  Some people believe that if He loved them He would answer their prayers and show up in their lives in the way they ask Him to.  But if He doesn’t, does that mean He doesn’t love us?  No!  We try to give God an identity based on what He does for us instead of who He is.  He is the resurrection and the life, He is the Great I Am, He is the Son of God, the Savior of the world, no matter what happens in our lives. We need to open our eyes and be willing to see God work in His way, not in the way we think He should.  God will be glorified in all things – if not on earth, then in Heaven.

For His Glory
If you have ever sat by the side of a hurting, sick, or dying loved one, you know the ache and pain and how the minutes drag by.  When sitting with a sick child, praying and waiting for God to come and do something feels like an eternity. Jesus doesn’t seem to show up fast enough.  I can only imagine how Mary and Martha must have felt knowing how much Jesus loved them and their brother, yet He did not come. The last hours of a dying person’s life are so hard to watch, and Jesus could have stopped it. Why would He delay if He loved them?

The love of God in our lives does not equal comfort. In fact, many times He makes us very uncomfortable because He loves us. All those uncomfortable times are for His glory and for His purpose in our lives. He stretches us in those uncomfortable times, and He will be glorified, even if we don’t see it.  When He doesn’t come when we think He should or doesn’t answer the way we think He should, we start to believe that He doesn’t love us or care about us. Our pain and burdens may possibly be for someone else’s benefit; for Him to be glorified in their life. Some things we will never understand this side of Heaven. We must live by what we know and not what we feel, because in the worst times in life, our feelings cannot be trusted.