Trust In The Timing Of The Lord

There are lessons to be learned about the timing of God, and sometimes things have to die for us to see the miraculous.

After hearing that Lazarus was sick, Jesus didn't drop everything to go heal His friend. Even if Jesus would have left right away to see him, he would have still arrived after His friend had died.

Do we know exactly why things happened the way they did? Not necessarily, but we can glean some truths from the story. During this time of history, Jewish mysticism believed that a person's spirit stayed in their body for three days after death. So, if Jesus would have come right away after hearing of Lazarus' sickness, He would have arrived right after the death, and would have raised Lazarus from the dead, but many would have looked right past the miracle and passed it off as a natural occurrence, because it was within three days of him dying.

But that's not what happened. When Jesus heard the news of his friend, He already knew he was going to die. He waited and finished His work in the town He was in, and then set off to see Lazarus. By the time He arrived it was past the three days, and we know the rest of the story. Jesus called out into Lazarus' grave and people marveled as this once dead man walked out. It was a clear miracle of God, and it couldn't be explained away by any other means.

There are two important things that we need to understand in this season. The first is that we need to trust in the timing of God. We often don't see why things happen the way they happen, but the timing of God is always perfect, and we need to maintain our faith in the middle of seasons of contradiction.

The second thing we need to understand is that sometimes God waits for things to die before intervening and raising them to life. This is done so that the miraculous will not be discarded and explained away, or that man will take the credit, but that God will get the glory, and that all will see and hear of His wondrous ways.

We are in such a season. Continue to have faith in God even when things have died. Just over the horizon of God's perfect timing, miracles, resurrection, and life are ready to spring forth.