Understanding God’s Timing

John 11 :1 - 44 says the following

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus[a] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 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. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called the Twin,[b] said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles[c] off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[d] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” 28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

You know when you are going trough something and then you are trying to avoid the elephant in the room BUT the elegant just decides to attack you either way? No? Did it happen just to me? Oh ok, I see how it is.

Yeah, I have been going trough y'all, like for real for real. To be honest I knew I had to read my Bible but I was feeling for like those Psalms where David is just complaint, you know, so I was just not in my “Bible reading” moment.

But God being funny... like always prepares the situation for me to for sure for sure open my Bible and then BOOM there I was being convicted.

And it's all about the timing.

I am the most impatient person ever, I like to solve think quickly and get stuff done fast and I get to places fast, I don't like unpunctuality

Jesus had been told about the death of his good friend Lazarus, yet he didn’t stop what he was doing or rush to get there to comfort the mourners or bring Lazarus back to life. He arrived four days later enough time for decomposition to begin, awful smells to take over Lazarus’s body, and hope to be entirely lost.

Lazarus means God is my help and Bethany means house of happiness.

With this, we can say that a Man of God is still a man, that will go through hard times and he will need God’s help sometimes his hope and faith will die and God will have to resurrect his faith.

Now the word was sent saying…. He whom you love is ill. how many times have we used that phrase before? God, you say you love me but if you did, you would have given me this now. God, the Bible says that He who asks, it is given to them, so here I am asking and I don’t see you giving me anything I am asking.

Important: Mary was the one that anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume, she stayed in the house pouring while Jesus was right there waiting for her to come to him, she didn’t, so He called her. She was also the one sitting at Jesus’ feet when He went to Martha’s house.

Now Martha is the one that was “ too busy” serving Jesus that forgot to listen to Him, she was too busy serving the King that she forgot the King she was serving. And she didn’t listen because when Jesus told her that, he could resurrect Lazarus, she understood that He would do it at the end of times and not right now.

 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

Important: it’s important to notice that the Bible doesn’t say, that Jesus loves the family but mentions every person. Meaning He loved them individually, with their personalities, tempers, and way of thinking. He knew them individually and loved them individually.

  - So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was Funny but not funny  HA HA funny WEIRD Jesus. How could John say, Jesus loved Him so He decided to be late, Jesus loved Him but He was not there for them. Jesus loved them so He let them suffer two more days. Jesus loved them but Lazarus died without seeing Jesus one last time. Jesus could have healed or raised Lazarus from the dead over the distance; his miracles weren’t bound by geography. But he chose to wait and bring Lazarus back to life at his proper time

Why did Jesus wait two more days? Simple, so the glory could be God’s and not some myth of Ben Kaphra. If he went on their time it would have been for men’s glory, but if he goes on God’s time then it’s for God’s glory.

There could be another reason for him to be “ late “ in men’s time to the situation and it was to mourn with Martha and Mary. Yes exactly, to mourn. Palms 56:8 says “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Jesus wants to be there when you cry and He wants to cry with you too, He keeps track of every single time you’ve cried because he is right there with you.

Now it’s time for the BIG miracle, the one that would cause the purpose of Jesus to set in place, and make all the Pharisees very mad and plan His death.

Jesus tells them to move the Rock.

Again here just shows that God will do what ONLY God can do but He will not do what we can do.

Jesus calls Lazarus to life. Lazarus’ face was wrapped with a cloth: Lazarus was not resurrected (it’s a permanent state)  but resuscitated ( temporary ). He arose bound in grave clothes, for he would need them again; Jesus left His grave clothes behind in His tomb, never again needing them.

Jesus said to them, “Lose him, and let him go”: Jesus did not miraculously remove

He looked for man’s cooperation for the completion of Lazarus’ deliverance.

“The man was wholly raised, but not wholly freed. See, here is a living man in the garments of death!” (Spurgeon)

 “What a man can do for himself God will not do for him, and what Christian people can do for sinners they must not expect the Lord to do, they must work themselves according to the ability God has given them up to the point of possibility, and then they may look for divine interposition.” (Spurgeon)

Funny story …. In Argentina where I was born we don’t use  Fahrenheit and Pounds, we use Kilograms and Celsius. But because I live in the US, I have to learn how to use measurements if not I will always make a mistake. Same concept here we live in the Chronos time and God works in the Kairos time. Until we don’t understand that and we learn to recognize the Kairos in our Chronos we will always think God is late when in reality He has been always on time.