Even Now

Have you ever gone through a situation and thought to yourself had God come through a bit earlier, things would have turned out much better? Perhaps, He showed up late to your situation, right? However, we should always realize that His time and plans for us are the best. Often, we are trusting God for a slight healing in our situation, meanwhile He has a much better plan regarding the situation –a resurrection! If we allow frustration to overcome us though, we might miss God’s resurrection for us.

Mary and Martha’s only brother, Lazarus was very sick and on the verge of dying. Luckily, her family knew Jesus and had developed a personal relationship with Him. They called Him their good friend. Unluckily though, Jesus was in another city on the other side of the Jordan River (John 1:28), which was about 2 days walk from Bethany (where Martha, Mary and Lazarus were). The Bible says that they sent a word to Jesus to have Him come to heal their brother, for they knew what He can do.

You could’ve imagined how many times Mary and Martha had to look through their window blinds to see whether Jesus was approaching. The Bible records that when Jesus heard the news of his friend’s illness, He decided to wait two more days in the place where He was before making His way towards Bethany, although He loved that family. Mind you, the journey to Bethany required another two days to travel. In total, Jesus spent 4 extra days before He could get to where Lazarus was.

Martha’s only brother had come down with some mysterious illness and nobody, except Jesus could heal him, but where was He? How many times had He healed the paralytic He didn’t even know? He healed the blind man who was just a face in the crowd, but His friend was deadly ill, and if Jesus was truly the friend that He professed to be, wouldn’t He have come? But Martha waited and Lazarus got worse, and she waited and Lazarus died, and she waited and Lazarus was buried, and still no sign of Jesus. Indeed, He had eaten at their table and slept under their roof. That had meant something to Him, or maybe not?

But surely, as the crowd had gathered to mourn with the two sisters, we hear that The Master has arrived. Late right? In fact, very late. And Martha couldn’t help herself, rushing to meet the One she called friend. “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” We can imagine the frustration she experienced, but glory be to God she didn’t end her statement there and walk away in utter disappointment. She recognized that even now that Jesus had showed up, He could still do something about her situation. We must develop a certain faith in Him that would cause us to know that no matter when He arrives, our situation is well in His hands.

Declaration

Jesus, I may not understand what you’re doing about my situations in life. I may not be able to explain it but even now I still believe that you are capable of anything. Amen!

Reference Scripture: John 11:1–44

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