Waiting is the worst.
Mostly I think it’s because I’m just so out of practice. Here’s some things I used to regularly have to wait for:
- The evening news on TV to tell me what happened today.
- Film to be developed in a lab before I could see my photos.
- An entire week to see what would happen on the next episode of my favorite show!
Can you even imagine living like that!?!
There are much more serious things we must wait for: Medical test results. Court rulings. Bodies to get well. A friend’s forgiveness. Someone to trust Jesus.
Waiting is the worst.
That’s why John 11:5-6 is so confusing.
It’s where Jesus hears the news that his dear friend Lazarus is sick. He’s dying.
What Jesus does…what happens next…it doesn’t make sense.
Jesus doesn’t immediately rush to Lazarus. He doesn’t place His all-powerful healing hands on him and restore him to health. He doesn’t perform a miracle, hug the sisters and head back to work.
Here’s what Jesus did:
“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.”
He loved, so He delayed. He made them wait. He made them worry and cry and suffer and grieve.
Dang.
I don’t know what to do with that.
I know–I know–I have to cling to and believe what is true about Jesus.
He’s good. Kind. Able. Merciful. Wise.
And it’s easy to look back on this event 2000 years ago and think, “Well, He raises Lazarus from the dead eventually so it’s all good.”
Well, that’s not how I would have felt.
I would have felt betrayed. Angry and sad and tricked and used. I would not have felt loved.
I wonder how long it took Mary and Martha to get over this.
I think this is the hardest waiting of all: Waiting for God to explain Himself (as if He has to).
He doesn’t owe us an explanation. Yet, in His mercy He brings inexpressible peace. Over time He brings healing and perspective. As we wait to understand God, He’s still at work.
We should be too.
Because guess what Mary and Martha were doing while they waited to understand? See Chapter 12.
They were serving and worshipping.
In spite of whatever they were feeling…Martha got back to serving. And Mary got back to kneeling at Jesus’ feet.
I think that’s right.
Waiting is the worst. But if you’re in a season of waiting on the Lord, I can’t think of any better plan of action. Find a way to serve others and–no matter what–continue to worship.
We may never understand. We might have to enter Heaven and go immediately to Customer Service for answers. But the hard and inexplicable truth is, sometimes He loves so He delays. Sometimes the way Jesus loves us is by making us wait.
Serve and worship Him anyway.