But I Want It NOW!!

But I Want It NOW!

One of the greatest destroyers of hope and faith is waiting on God’s timing.  Mainly because in our minds, we do not understand what the holdup is; because to us, NOW (even yesterday) is the perfect timing.  We live in a fast paced world—a microwave society with the mentality of “I want it now and I will get it now.”  For example, we can print out pictures in minutes, we have instant messaging, instagram, atm machines, drive thru windows with the “30 second rule”, email (instead of snail mail), and even medicines that claim “instant relief”.  Do not let me forget that everything we could possibly eat can be microwaved or made “instantly” (instant mashed potatoes or instant rice sound familiar?).

Unfortunately, God does not operate on a “when we want it, we get it” time frame.  He is never hurry and sometimes we feel He can be agonizingly slow when it comes to solving the problems we bring to His attention.  It’s almost enough to make an impatient believer get angry or give up and try something else.   However, before bailing out on your hope that God will rescue you, let us look at a story in John Chapter 11.  It is one of the most notable stories in the Bible about two sisters and a brother who desperately needed Jesus to come to their rescue.  In this story, it appeared Jesus was “late” but He was actually “on time”.

 Mary, Martha and Lazarus were among Jesus’ closest friends.  Verse 5 says, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”  It is a reasonable assumption that given this affection, they could expect certain favors from Jesus; and indeed, they soon found themselves in need of a “favor”.  Lazarus became desperately ill and once his condition worsened, his sisters did the logical thing and sent an urgent note to Jesus that read, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”  As a friend of Jesus, Martha and Mary had every reason to hope and believe that Jesus would be on his way.

When the Lord received the urgent message, he replied, “This sickness will not end in death.  No it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”  One would assume that because Jesus said the sickness would not end in death then he would immediately travel to Lazarus and heal him.  But Mary and Martha waited and watched the road for Jesus’ appearance but He did not come.  Hours dragged into days with no sign of Jesus and as time went by, Lazarus was steadily losing ground.  He was obviously dying and where was Jesus?  As Mary and Martha lay by their brother’s side they probably kept asking themselves and others:  Didn’t Jesus care?  Why is He being so late?  Did He even get the message?

Pause for thought:  Do you often ask Jesus these same questions when you are in need of His help and do you don’t see Him changing your circumstances?

The illness took Lazarus’ life.  I can just imagine their frustration with Jesus at this point.  Jesus was a close friend and He had all the power to heal their brother but He never came.  They probably thought He was out there somewhere performing miracles for total strangers, opening blind eyes and healing the lame.  Yet here they were in critical need of His care and He was either too busy to come or just unconcerned with their sense of emergency.  

Pause for thought:  Have you ever been frustrated with Jesus?  Have you ever felt abandoned by God due to your problem persisting?  

Finally after two days since hearing the news of His friend being ill, Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us go back to Judea”.  But the disciples tried to talk Him out of it because just a short time before, some Jews had tried to stone Jesus.  But Jesus response was, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going to wake him up.”  His disciples replied, “Maybe we should let him sleep so he will get better.”  The disciples obviously did not understand that Lazarus had died, so Jesus said plainly (and probably a bit annoyed), “Lazarus is dead and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.  But let us go to him.”

Pause for thought:  Why did Jesus say that He was glad the disciples were not there?  Was God setting the stage for a miracle so that He could show His power over death?

Then Thomas said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Pause for thought:  Can you hear Thomas’ tone in this statement?  He is basically saying, “Fine.  I guess if Jesus is going to be so persistent in going and he is so eager to get stoned to death than we might as well go and get stoned with Him.   It probably wasn’t the happiest journey to Judea for the disciples.  

Meanwhile, Mary and Martha wrapped Lazarus in grave clothes and conducted a funeral, but Jesus did not attend.  They said goodbye to their loving brother and placed his body in a tomb.  By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.  FOUR DAYS?!  The journey from Bethany was only two to three miles from where the disciples were staying so even though Mary and Martha loved Jesus with all of their hearts, it would be reasonable to assume that they were annoyed when He showed up FOUR days late.  They may have been tempted to say, “UM!  EXCUSE ME?! Where have you been?  You are a little late!”  Instead, Martha met Jesus in the street (Mary stayed home because she might have been irritated, hurt or upset with Jesus for not coming sooner).  When Martha approached Jesus she said in verse 21 “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Pause for thought:  WOW! What faith!  Martha knew that even though her brother was dead, God would still do the impossible if Jesus asked.  Your situation may look dead and hopeless, but do you believe that God will do the impossible if you ask?  Jesus lives within you and whatever you ask in His name will be done (but remember it will be done according to His Word and in His timing)

As a response to her faith, Jesus replied, “Your brother will rise again.”  After this conversation, Martha went to get her sister, Mary.  Mary and several other Jews came out of the house and Mary, while weeping, fell at Jesus’ feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  When Jesus saw her weeping and the others around Him weeping, He was moved in His spirit and He wept with them.  

Pause for thought:  What do you see when you hear that Jesus wept?  Do you ever visualize that Jesus is moved with compassion when you come before Him hurting?  Rest assured that He cares when you are brokenhearted.

When many of the Jews saw Jesus weeping they said, “See how He loved him?”  But then there were others (the negative Nelly’s in the crowd) who said, “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Pause for thought:  Does this remind you of some conversations you have with God?  Have you ever said, “If God loved me than why is this happening to me? “  or “Why am I still suffering?”

Jesus then went to the tomb and asked to have the stone removed but Martha said…”UHHH NO! That body has been in there for FOUR days and there is a nasty odor!”  Jesus then said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the Glory of God?”

Pause for thought:  What is Jesus saying to Martha?   Your situation may “stink” and look dead but Jesus is saying to you today “believe and you will see God’s blessings” No situation is too dead or too “stinky” for God.

The people standing nearby took the stone away and Jesus looked up and thanked God for hearing Him and then Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  Lazarus came out with his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and cloth around his face.  Many people who came to visit Mary and Martha had seen what Jesus had done and put their faith in Him, but there were others who still did not believe it was Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead.  

Pause for thought:  How often do you believe Jesus can do the impossible in your life?   Do you need to raise your expectation or hope in God?  Do you hear of miracles happening to others and still reject Jesus performed the miracle or that He won’t perform the miracle for you?  

As a result of Lazarus’ death, Jesus was able to perform one of His most dramatic miracles in His time in the ministry.  You see, Jesus wasn’t late at all because He arrived at the precise moment in order to fulfill the plans and purposes of God.   Just like in our situations, it FEELS like Jesus shows up four days late and only arrives after we have wept, worried, sweated, fretted, and paced the floor.  We always think that if He had arrived on time, when we first prayed, than we could have avoided much of the stress that occurred with His absence.  But it is important to not be led by our feelings and to recognize that He is never late and His plans are to always prosper and not to harm (Jeremiah 29:11).   Sometimes you have to step back and say, “It’s not about me God it’s about you, and I will trust you while I wait and let your glory shine.”

Pause for thought:  Could God be using your trial to bring glory to His higher purpose for you or someone else?

God will bring good out of every situation if you allow Him to do so.  I challenge you as you wait for God’s timing to not grumble, complain, or blame God, but instead use this time to exercise your faith by saying, “I trust you God and I know your timing is best.”  Tell Him that you trust His purpose for allowing your trials to continue and that you are open and willing to letting Him use you to honor Him.  God may be setting the stage for a miracle to happen in your life, just like Jesus showing up four days late set the stage for one of the most astonishing miracles in Jesus’ ministry.  

Jesus said in verse 4, “This sickness will not end in death.  No it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”  Your situation, your sickness will NOT in the death.  Be like Martha and keep believing that Jesus has the power to do the impossible.  Allow His glory to shine in and through your situation.

Pause for thought:   How can God use your circumstances now to bring Him glory?  Could you strengthen your marriage during this time?  Grow spiritually?  Strengthen your faith?  Learn to trust God more?  Could you share with others the peace, joy, hope you have found while waiting?

Verse of the week:  

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good.

At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 

Galatians 6:9