Friday: Day 15

 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he had been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” John 11:38-40

 

            Poor Lazarus. He was good and dead. Very dead. He had been in the tomb for four days. There was a popular myth in Jesus’ time that a person’s spirit stayed with them after they died for three days, but on the fourth day it left. Lazarus was good and dead after being in the tomb four days. And as Martha said, there was a stench. Lazarus was good, dead, and he was beginning to stink.

 

            When Jesus was told that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was (John 11:6). He said that Lazarus’ illness a way for Jesus to be glorified through it (John 11:4). 

 

            In times of illness and death it’s difficult to see beyond the immediate crisis. But when Jesus heard about Lazarus’ illness, he waited. Jesus knew what God was doing, and he knew that it was not a sickness that would end in death. Rather, it would end as a testament to God’s glory. Jesus knows the future in ways that we do not. He could see ways in which God work working toward God’s glory. So Jesus says that yes, Lazarus is sick, but that the eventual outcome would bring glory to God.

 

            Jesus waited. I hate it when he does that. Jesus waited to go to Lazarus until he was good and dead. I’m a very patient person, as long as things happen right away. I can be very patient if I know the outcome right now. But if I don’t know the outcome, I have a terrible time with patience.

 

            There will come a time when there will be no more tears, no more crying, no more sickness, no more pain, and no more death. That’s something we know will one day come to us. God is looking forward to that day with us, when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

 

            It’s difficult to wait. It’s especially difficult to wait during times when our hearts cry out, wanting to know the outcome.  

 

            But God is God, and we are not. However difficult it is to do, at some point we have to trust God’s timing. And maybe, just maybe, God will be glorified at the other end of our waiting. And we may even look back and be overjoyed, just like Mary and Martha were when their brother was raised.

 

            Bach used to end his musical compositions with the letters S.D.G. Soli Deo Gloria: Glory to God Alone. It’s a pretty good summary of life. It’s challenging while we wait, but ultimately it’s true.

    

Questions to Ponder:  

 

• Have you ever waited for God to answer a prayer? Was it frustrating? What did you do while you waited?
• Has God ever answered a prayer in a way that you would not have suspected, or even wanted, but it turned out to be the best thing for you? What was it? And if the answer to your prayers would have turned out the way you wanted it to be, what difference would that have made?  

 

Prayer for Today: I waited for the Lord, he inclined unto me, he heard my complaint. O blest are they that hope and wait in him. In Jesus’ name. Amen.