Dealing with Delays

Psalm 13                              Isaiah 40:29-31                             John 11:1-16

Dealing with Delays

How do you deal with delays? Something you ordered doesn’t arrive on time and you show up at the birthday party without a gift…or the trains aren’t running on schedule, and you miss the performance…or the traffic stops completely, and you can’t make your appointment. How do you deal with delays? Are you disappointed? Frustrated? Angry? Or are you a “whatever will be will be” type of person?  

But what about when the delay concerns a desperately anticipated answer to a desperately urgent prayer? And I’m not talking about an urgent prayer for a parking space or for help to pass an exam. I’m talking about an urgent prayer such as when you are praying for the end of a war…or for the healing of a loved one, especially one who is dying. Like when David fasted and prayed to God night and day for a week that the child conceived in his murderous and adulterous affair with Bathsheba would not die. (2 Samuel 12:16-24 – that’s a sermon Logan still needs to preach sometime!) 

But then the war drags on indefinitely…or the loved one is not healed…or they die despite all your fervent prayers…how do you deal with that?

Do you launch into a kind of theological monologue in your head arguing against your own doubts and fears? Yes, God is good, and he hears and answers prayers…the Scriptures teach that. So then, why does he not hear and answer my prayer? Is there something wrong with me? Is there some sin in my life? Am I asking for the wrong things? God answers the prayers of others…does he not love me like he loves others? Does he love me at all? Am I even a believer or is there perhaps not a God out there after all? Or, at least, not a God who is loving and kind and compassionate and who cares about the affairs of his Creation…

Have you ever been there?

Of course, there is the convenient loophole we call God’s will. In 1 John 5:14-15 we are told, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” Ah, but there’s the rub…just what exactly is God’s will and how is it connected to any delays in his answering our prayers?

This question is echoed throughout Scripture. Think of Israel in bondage, crying out to God year after year after year. Think of Israel delivered from bondage plodding around in the wilderness for years and years because, as Moses told them later, God wanted to humble them, letting them hunger, feeding them with manna, so that he might teach them that humans do not live by bread alone, but they live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. But they didn’t know that for forty years, did they? The question “How long oh Lord?” is repeated often by many…even by kings (Psalm 13) and by holy martyrs (Revelation 6:10).

Does God hear? And if he hears, when will he answer? 

I think this struggle is illustrated perfectly in our Gospel lesson for today.

Now, it might be helpful to backtrack a little bit to set the stage for the drama about to unfold. Remember in the previous account, Jesus left Judea and went to Bethany beyond the Jordan because the leaders of the Jews wanted to arrest him. So, for the sake of safety, it was best for him to remain where he was until the dust of his previous confrontation with the Jewish leaders had settled. And while he stayed in that area where John the Baptist had been active, many of the Baptist’s former disciples believed in Jesus. He had quite a ministry right where he was. 

In this context, the message arrived from Bethany in Judea…from Martha and Mary concerning the plight of their brother Lazarus (Eleazar in Hebrew). Now, it might be helpful for you to think of this message as a prayer for intervention…a prayer asking for healing. We must assume that Lazarus was gravely ill, otherwise, the sisters would not have sent for Jesus. Theirs was a closely-knit friendship and so they would have known that it would be dangerous for Jesus to return, but again we must assume that they were desperate. 

You might think that John stole a bit of his thunder here in these opening verses in telling us something that would only happen chronologically in the next chapter of his Gospel…that it was this Mary who anointed Jesus' feet with costly ointment…but as John never wrote anything without a good reason, I believe this bit of anticipatory information was to show that the love shared between Jesus and this family was deeply mutual. In fact, he added in verse 5 that Jesus loved this family. 

Now, I believe John was giving his first-time readers something to hold on to as they navigated the emotional account that followed. Jesus loved them, he wrote. It is as if John was saying to his readers, ‘Hold onto that thought as you plunge into the depths of grief and loss and bewilderment…as you hear the sister's painful struggle with what looked like Jesus’ lack of care or his apparent indifference: “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Hold on to that thought as you ask the same question raised by the crowd “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”’

Indeed, it is that same thought we must hold on to as we face the ups and downs of life. God loves us…we must hold onto that truth through whatever may follow…it is this truth that will carry us when all else fails.

Johannine scholars all believe that the raising of Lazarus is the seventh and final sign in this Gospel. If you remember, the first sign was performed at a wedding. This last sign is performed at a funeral…perhaps this is significant as the greatest sign of all is surely the death and resurrection of Jesus…an event that ushered in the wedding feast of the Lamb.

But I couldn’t help wondering if the signs in John's Gospel were not designed to indicate a flipped or reversed image of the Exodus plagues. John often employed images taken from Creation and from the Exodus, so it would not be surprising if there is some indication of reverse imagery here. For example, Jesus’ first sign was water turned to drinkable wine versus the first plague which was water turned to undrinkable blood. His final sign here was possibly the reversal of the death of the firstborn. 

Now, as with the plagues, there was also an escalation in the intensity of the signs coupled with an escalation in the violent response of the enemies. In the Exodus, this led to the total religious and socioeconomic collapse of Egypt and ultimately the destruction of Pharoah’s army in the Red Sea. In the Gospels, it led to the rejection and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, an event foreshadowed by the tearing of the veil, as well as the total disarmament of Satan and his forces of darkness (Colossians 2:15). 

But let's get back to the story. Considering the mutual love between Jesus and this family and the receipt of this desperate request for an immediate reaction, Jesus' delayed response comes as a major surprise. The obvious expectation of the sisters was that he would realise the urgent and serious nature of the situation and come as soon as possible. 

But instead, Jesus deliberately decided to wait, apparently reassuring his disciples that this illness would not lead to death…adding somewhat enigmatically that it was for the glory of God so that the Son of Man might be glorified through it.

So, at this point, the disciples knew as much as what the first readers would have known. Whatever happened, God and the mysterious Son of Man would be glorified…whatever that may mean. Not too different from what we know when facing an unknown future, is it? 

But I think it is important for us to note that the sisters were not around to hear Jesus’ statement. They were about 20 miles or 32 kilometres west of where Jesus was at that time, trapped within the blind reality of their own hand-wringing anxiety. No doubt their eyes scanned the horizon moment by moment searching for the familiar figure of the only one who could help them. Anything…just an indication that he might be on his way…but the horizon remained devoid of any such promise. Can you imagine the difficult internal turmoil they must have been struggling with? Didn’t he care? Could he not simply speak a word to heal their brother? And as they watched their beloved brother slowly slip away from them, their hearts must have been battlefields of strong opposing emotions. 

And still, no reply…no response…nothing…

This is why John’s timely reminder is so important to us. Jesus loved this family. In a similar manner, the Scriptures tell us page after page that God loves us and that his love is based, not on our performance, but on his unchanging character. This is the rock we cling to when the storms of life threaten to pull us into the depths of despair. God loves us and whatever he does is because of that love.

Of course, the statement that Jesus loved this family seems to be contradicted by his lack of action on their behalf. John tells us that he deliberately waited two more days after having received the petition from the sisters. We know that he knew that this delay of two days would prove to be fatal as he never did anything arbitrarily, but he also must have known how devastatingly painful his apparent absence would have been for his friends. For all we know, Lazarus may have died thinking that his friend did not care about him. 

Perhaps, as John recorded Jesus’ deep emotional response at the grave later in the chapter, this delay may have been every bit as painful for Jesus as it was for the family, but as we already know, Jesus never did anything except what he heard from the Father…and therefore he knew what the result would be. But they did not. And herein lies the greatest lesson of trust we need to learn as children of God. Our Father knows what is best for us in all situations and he always does what is best for us because he loves us.

When we struggle with the overwhelming pain brought on by the apparent silence of Heaven, we need to rehearse stories such as this one so that we might be reminded that God does answer, but in a way that may be far beyond the reach of our finite capacity for comprehension. Paul wrote that God is well able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we may ask or think according to his power at work within us. At those times when we have reached the end of our own limited strength and our poor, empty hearts seek vainly for a straw of hope to hold on to, remember Mary and Martha during their time of waiting. 

But then, Jesus’ determination to return to Judea raised another dilemma. His own safety. Besides this, his sudden decision to go after a delay of two days must have seemed odd to his disciples. Why now? “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”

Jesus’ reply was short and to the point. He was not operating in the darkness as were his opponents. He knew God’s will. He knew the mind of God on this matter, and he was following his clear leading. No doubt, as was his custom, Jesus had spent the two days praying…asking his Father for wisdom and guidance. His time was in the hands of the Father, not his enemies. So, his return was no fatalistic jump from the pinnacle of the temple. No, the way forward was as clear as day…and so he went.

But if they thought his decision to return to Judea after two days was strange, what he said next must have been really confusing. Not only was he willing to risk his life by returning to a dangerous area (remember Bethany was only about 2 miles/3 kilometres from Jerusalem), but it seemed he was going for nothing. Lazarus was dead. 

Can you imagine the perplexed look on the disciples’ faces? And what were they to make of Jesus’ vague indication that somehow this was for their benefit? How could this dangerous visit to a tomb be to anyone’s benefit except perhaps consoling the sisters? 

Little did they know that they were about to witness the most amazing miracle ever performed by Jesus. Yes, they already knew that he could heal various kinds of diseases…that he could even restore senses which had never been present…they even knew that he could raise the dead as in the case of Jairus’s daughter or the son of the widow of Nain. But no one would have imagined that he could raise a four-day-old rotting corpse to life. Perhaps in their minds, if the body remained intact, there might still be a glimmer of hope, but once the body had begun to succumb to the process of decay, everyone was resigned to the finality of the situation.

No one could have anticipated such an event, so the statement of Thomas no doubt reflected the mood of the whole group. “Let us also go, that we may die with him,” a statement of resignation, if ever there was one. What made him say something like this? I think it is for the same reason we get discouraged when we face a delay in receiving an answer to prayer. He, like us, could not grasp the full reality of God’s Person and the certainty of his promises. 

Did Jesus promise to be with us until the end of the age? Did he promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against us? Did he promise that even though we may face trials and tribulations in this world, he has overcome the world? Did he promise to be with us in the deepest darkest valleys? Did he promise that he would work all things together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose? 

Why then do we allow the circumstances of life to rob us of the assurance we have in him? Is he not an altogether good God? An Almighty, sovereign, loving, kind, and generous God? It is not as if we have no example of his power…we have the testimony of the Scriptures as well as the lives of countless witnesses down through the ages…as well as the witness of our own lives. If God was with you then or there, why would he fail you now? 

I believe the main reason we are so prone to doubt and despair when we feel pressed up against a wall of impossibilities, is that our focus is either on ourselves and our weaknesses and inabilities, or on others…on their power or their lack of power, or on the situation or circumstance, such as a rotting corpse. Like Mary, Martha, and the disciples, we too look past the Person of Jesus and fix our eyes on the seemingly insurmountable problem.

George Müller, a Christian evangelist in the mid to late 1800s, the director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England, and co-founder of the Plymouth Brethren Movement, wrote about a time when he was faced with a similar desperate situation in his orphan ministry. In his autobiography, he wrote, “The funds were exhausted. We had been reduced so low as to be at the point of selling those things which could be spared.” Then a woman, who had been travelling for four days, arrived with sufficient funds for the orphanage. Müller and his co-workers had prayed those four days for something God had already supplied. 

Under these circumstances, Müller made the following observation. “That the money had been so near to the orphan house for several days without being given, is a plain proof that it was from the beginning in the heart of God to help us; but because he delights in the prayers of his children, he had allowed us to pray so long; also to try our faith, and to make the answer so much sweeter.” (Müller, George, The Life of Trust, Compass Circle, 2019.)

God’s response to our prayers may not always come within four days…they might never come at all, at least not on this side of eternity. But the answering of our prayers is not the point. Our relationship with a trustworthy God is. If we cannot trust him who has proved himself faithful from generation to generation since the dawn of time, then we are in trouble at the very centre of our lives as believers. 

Study the Scriptures…study Church History…see if God has ever proved to be a broken cistern. Study your own life…even a cursory glance at your past will reveal his constant presence with you, especially in your darkest moments. Now, evaluate any present or future difficulty in the light of your findings. 

What makes you so great or so small that God is rendered unable or unwilling to help you? What makes your problems so different from those faced by countless saints through the ages who have proved God to be faithful that it causes you to believe your God to be impotent or untrue to his nature and his character? 

Learn from the disciples…learn from the sisters. Don’t limit God in any way. While his answer may not be the one you wanted, if he can raise a four-day-old rotting corpse, he can turn your apparent disadvantage into a testimony to his greatness and his glory.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023