Painful Delays

“Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.” John 11:5-6 (NIV)

Delays are painful. We understand that God is all-knowing and that God is love, but we just don’t always fully understand God’s timing. When God doesn’t respond in the time frame that we have established, we wonder if God really cares. Delays intensify our fears and magnify the reality of our meager faith.

Have you ever been between a rock and hard place and wondered if God would come through for you? Have your circumstances ever taken you to a place you never thought you would go? God allows us to go through those seasons and experience those places in order to come to know the depth of His love. God is for us. God always has our best interest in mind. Nothing happens to a child of God without His permission. If God permits it, then God will use it for your good and for His glory.

Martha and Mary experienced the full impact of a delay. Their brother, Lazarus, was sick and died before Jesus got there. They knew firsthand the trauma of unmet expectations. They had seen Jesus speak life into the dead. They had seen Jesus restore sight to the blind, speech to the mute, mobility to the lame, and hearing to the deaf. Yet, Jesus did not operate according to their personal time preference. Jesus delayed.

Why doesn’t God show up to resolve your dilemmas sooner? Why does God seem to delay His response to your need for divine intervention? God’s timing is perfect. He is never late. God, in His sovereignty, takes the confetti of our lives and produces a portrait of His grace.

Do you trust God? Are you entrusting your life and your circumstances to His care? Are you willing to obey God in the midst of a perceived delay?

Pursuing God,

Stephen Trammell
Executive Pastor
(This devotional was originally posted in ’07 or ’08. I’m taking a break from writing for a season of personal renewal.)
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