It's Always Worth The Wait
The eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John gives us the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. As it is told, Jesus had heard that Lazarus was sick, yet He remained where He was for two more days. The Bible even says that Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, yet He waited until after Lazarus had died to go to him.
On the third day after getting word about Lazarus, Jesus went to see him, even though He knew he was already dead. Jesus waited for God’s timing to go to Bethany. Upon arriving, Martha met Jesus and told Him, “If you would have come sooner, my brother would not have died.” Jesus replied and told her to believe and she would see the glory of God. Others said similar things about Jesus not being there soon enough to save Lazarus. After hearing multiple people tell Him how late He was, Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead.
We sometimes have problems and we wonder, “God, why don’t you do something?” But, really, God is asking us, “When will you believe me?” We have to understand that delays are not denials, but opportunities to trust God.
The questions Mary, Martha, and the others asked weren’t abnormal questions, given the circumstances. We’ve asked the same ones ourselves. “God, where were You?” “Why haven’t you done anything yet?” And the questions go on and on. One thing about all these questions is that they don’t solve anything; and they actually keep our faith from developing and producing results.
Instead of answering the question on their minds, Jesus turned the tables on the people, and said that if they would believe they would see the glory of God.
Sometimes we end up waiting on answers to prayer in order to strengthen our ability to believe and trust God. The only way we are going to really know what we believe and how much we trust God is to face some difficult stuff. God does not send the problems, be sure of that. And He is willing and able to fix them. But, His timing is perfect, and sometimes our faith needs to stretch and grow a bit by waiting for the manifestation. And sometimes the manifestation is delayed simply because our faith has not yet been developed sufficiently.
Martha struggled with the death of her brother and with believing God for a good outcome, but Jesus helped her to release her faith by saying who He was.
She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. John 11:27 (KJV)
Jesus helped her to believe, and He will help us to believe as well, even when we don’t understand or know everything. Jesus stepped in, raised Lazarus, and the people saw the glory of God. As we decide to believe Jesus, we will see the glory of God show up in our lives to meet the need. In the process, we will get a fresh revelation of who Jesus is and what He can do.
Don’t be discouraged by the passing of time as you wait on the answer to prayer. Just keep believing God; the best is yet to come.
