How many of us have ever experienced disappointment?
Have people disappointed us?
Have the people closest to our hearts disappointed us?
Has God disappointed us?
The story of Lazarus not only teaches us that Jesus is God…It teaches us as well about the concept of IN HIS TIME. It’s not a new concept, we hear it all the time…but do we truly understand what it means and do we, as Christians, truly accept the message and live it?
Jesus was told that “Lord, the one you love is sick.” (John 11:3). And the Bible goes on saying “Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus.” (John 11:5). We would expect that Jesus would just rush and leave all behind for Lazarus and heal him. Lazarus was not just anybody. Jesus loved Lazarus. If Jesus could heal the lepers immediately, if only by His word the Centurion’s servant was healed long distance, when he healed Peter’s mother of a simple fever---why did He not come with urgency to the one he loved? The Bible says, “When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.” (John 11:6).
Did we read that correctly, 2 more days?
Yes we did, Jesus waited for 2 more days.
No one loves to wait…we want everything NOW. But Jesus teaches us that WAITING IS NECESSARY, WAITING CANNOT BE SHORTENED, WAITING CANNOT BE BY-PASSED.
TIME, in Greek, can be identified in two ways:
When used as CHRONOS, it means it is time that is “literal”, “can be measured” --- in other words, it’s OUR TIME. KAIROS, on the other hand is used to describe “appointed time” and is used to describe God’s Time or HIS TIME.
There was a reason why Jesus waited….God had a purpose and when Jesus said “Let us go back to Judea.” (John 11:7), he intended not only to bring healing to Lazarus who was in Bethany, but also to the entire of Judea. And Jesus’ glory had to be seen…it was necessary for Lazarus to die for God’s glory to shine in Judea. In the same way, God is not only interested in you or me, he is interested in reaching others, reaching everyone as well…so he waited.
And when Martha and Mary waited, Jesus did not bring healing to Lazarus…he gave something more magnificent and more precious…Jesus resurrected Lazarus! Jesus was never late, not a second too early nor a split second too late….He arrived at the right time…IN GOD’s PERFECT TIME.
When Jesus arrived at Bethany, did Mary and Martha turn their backs to Jesus when he was “TOO LATE”? A resounding NO! They ran to him and met him even if he was far off.
Yes we did, Jesus waited for 2 more days.
No one loves to wait…we want everything NOW. But Jesus teaches us that WAITING IS NECESSARY, WAITING CANNOT BE SHORTENED, WAITING CANNOT BE BY-PASSED.
TIME, in Greek, can be identified in two ways:
When used as CHRONOS, it means it is time that is “literal”, “can be measured” --- in other words, it’s OUR TIME. KAIROS, on the other hand is used to describe “appointed time” and is used to describe God’s Time or HIS TIME.
There was a reason why Jesus waited….God had a purpose and when Jesus said “Let us go back to Judea.” (John 11:7), he intended not only to bring healing to Lazarus who was in Bethany, but also to the entire of Judea. And Jesus’ glory had to be seen…it was necessary for Lazarus to die for God’s glory to shine in Judea. In the same way, God is not only interested in you or me, he is interested in reaching others, reaching everyone as well…so he waited.
And when Martha and Mary waited, Jesus did not bring healing to Lazarus…he gave something more magnificent and more precious…Jesus resurrected Lazarus! Jesus was never late, not a second too early nor a split second too late….He arrived at the right time…IN GOD’s PERFECT TIME.
When Jesus arrived at Bethany, did Mary and Martha turn their backs to Jesus when he was “TOO LATE”? A resounding NO! They ran to him and met him even if he was far off.
Again I pose the questions:
How many of us have ever experienced disappointment?
Have people disappointed us?
Have the people closest to us disappointed us?
Has God disappointed us?
And I add another question:
When people and God disappoint us, do we run AWAY from Him or do we run TOWARD HIM?
And as we do so, let us turn to our Jesus and meet Him rather than run away from Him. Allow him to do greater miracles in our lives in ways we never thought he could do. Open our hearts to the Jesus who loves us and who will arrive at our rescue at the right time…in His time.
God bless and have a blessed Sunday!
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