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GOD'S NEVER LATE!
'If we had everything we ever wanted in life, at the TIME we wanted it, and the WAY we wanted it, majority of us would have had our lives dislocated or totally ruined'.
God, our loving Father, being the Master Planner, Author and Finisher of our destinies, knows every detail of our lives, sees the beginning from the ending, and the ending from the beginning, and as such knows the BEST and most appropriate TIME to let us have those things we desire or request from Him.
Bible Reading: John 11:1-End.
In John 11: 21, Martha said to the Lord Jesus 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died'.
I don't know how many people heard the same thing I heard Martha say. Martha appears to be saying: 'Lord if you had hasted to come to Bethany the very moment you got our message that Lazarus your friend that you love was sick, and had urgently laid your hands to pray for him, he would not have died; now you're several days late, he's dead already, four days in the grave, stinking and smelling, Lord you did not come on time, you're late'!.
I'm sure many of us at one time or the other, have felt the same way Martha felt (and perhaps still feeling this way) that God didn't show up for us at the time we considered most critical in our own assessment. Yes, God may not show up at the time we expect Him, but one thing that’s sure is He’s never late!
Lazarus was someone that occupied a special place in the heart of Jesus during His earthly days. In fact the bible specifically mentions that Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters dearly, and this goes to show the kind of relationship and bond that existed between that family and the Lord. Considering this, one’s expectation would be that Jesus, upon getting the news of Lazarus’ sickness, would urgently proceed to Bethany on the next available flight to pray for His friend in order to immediately heal him of the sickness, but that didn’t happen. Against the expectation of Mary and Martha, Jesus did not come immediately, but rather stayed additional two days where He was, and thereafter proceeded to Judea –another city- to continue His outreach for yet additional days.
Upon getting the news of Lazarus’ sickness, the statement the Lord Jesus made was ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it’. Jesus made this declaration in advance because as the Author and Finisher of our destinies, He sees the ending from the beginning; He had already seen and perfectly had the knowledge of what the Almighty God wanted to achieve with the situation. I have read the book of John Chapter 11 over and over again, and have observed that it’s not on record that anyone brought the news of Lazarus’ death to Jesus where He was. It is worthy of note however that when Jesus was eventually ready to proceed on the journey to Bethany, He began to talk to His disciples about the death of Lazarus. That means He already knew everything about the situation.
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. John 11:14-15;
Is it not surprising that the same Lord who had earlier declared that ‘this sickness is not unto death’, is the one now declaring ‘Lazarus is dead’! This is where God demonstrates His sovereignty as the Almighty God! Christ being the Author and Finisher, had obviously seen that the triumph of death over Lazarus would only be temporary; since He is the Supreme Ruler over life and death, He had already known what He would do and how things would end. The Lord had looked through the windows of eternity and had seen that the end of it all would be triumph of life over death for Lazarus, so He declared in advance that ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it’. While we are troubled by the great challenges of the present that we see, what is of interest to God is the glorious end that He has promised to give His children. What happens at the end of it all is what the LORD sees.
Why God May Not Show Up at Your Own Time
Upon getting the message of Lazarus’ sickness, if Jesus had proceeded urgently to Bethany in line with the expectations of Mary and Martha, the best thing that would have happened is that Lazarus would be healed of his sickness, but this would not have made any big News. In fact, no other persons may have heard about it, save Lazarus' immediate family members only. The glory and honour that came to the Almighty God on the account of Lazarus’ death and his being raised from the dead, would have been totally lost; the big news that proclaimed Jesus Christ in all the cities all around would never have been heralded. One of the reasons God may not show up at the time we expect is that He wants our testimonies to be bigger. God wants out testimony to be big, not necessarily for our own sakes, but that all may see His great power and glorify Him.
Again, if Jesus had come when Martha and Mary expected Him, many people, including the Jews who believed on the Lord Jesus on the account of the miracle, would not have come to Christ.
We need to realize that it's not about us alone, while we we're thinking about our own comfort, God’s concern is about what will proclaim His glory in our lives. If God chooses to use our challenges as occasion to proclaim His power and glory, so be it.
I’ve come to also understand through the story of Joseph that the answer, help or intervention we desire may not come at the time we expect because God may want it to come at a strategic time that it would launch us unto uncommon lifting and significant honour. In Genesis 40:14, after Joseph had given favourable interpretation to the dream of Pharaoh’s cup bearer, his earnest prayer was ‘But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house’. From this statement, I’m sure Joseph’s expectation most likely would be that the cup bearer, as soon as he settled down, would urgently mention his case to Pharaoh and plead for his immediate release. But this never happened. If things had happened exactly the way Joseph rehearsed it in his expectation, the best that would have happened to him perhaps would be his release from the prisons, certainly not to resume his ‘exalted position’ at Portiphar’s house, but most likely as a homeless slave boy that would be left alone to struggle with life in Egypt. But one way or the other, the bible says that the cup bearer forgot totally about Joseph for complete two years until such a time divinely appointed, when God Himself triggered the event that brought Joseph to the exalted throne in Egypt. Don’t get angry or allow resentments in your heart when people, including those you have personally shown kindness to, forget you. It may be that God is waiting for such a time that the reward will bring about significant and major breakthrough in your life.
Ecclesiastes 3:11A says ‘He hath made every thing beautiful in his time’. God may not give you what you desire or ask of Him at your own time, because it may not make your life beautiful at that particular moment. If you received certain things from God before the time divinely appointed, those things, rather than make your life beautiful, may end up tearing you apart! As God’s children, we must trust God enough that He knows the best for us as. If we have this understanding, we will not find it difficult to totally trust His judgment and leading on our pilgrim way. A sister, who was well advanced in age once told me frankly, that if God had allowed her to get married at the very time she was so desperate to get married, she would have ended up with a ruined marriage. While I was trying to find out why she said that, she told me that going by the person she was in character and understanding, she would have made mess of her marriage if she had gotten married at her own time. She was really grateful to God that God prevented her from getting married at the time she would have loved to.
When Jesus showed up at the tomb of Lazarus, then His earlier proclamation ‘this sickness is not unto death, but to the glory of God, that the Son of Man may be glorified through it’ came to pass. The people had already known Jesus as one who can heal sicknesses and diseases, but now they have seen Him as the one who can raise the dead; the people had seen Jesus raise the dead before, but have now seen Him as the one who cannot only raise the dead, but bring back to life, someone who has been buried and already decomposing! It wouldn’t matter the situation you find yourself, it wouldn’t matter how bad you think things have gone, when the Lord shows up for you, it can never be late. It may appear people are riding over your head at the moment; it may be that you have waited for many years and you’re not even sure when the waiting will end. Trust your entire life to God with absolute faith and assurance, He’ll never be late, He’ll show up for you just on time! You will never be put to shame because God will be right on time! AMEN!
By Ezekiel Olukolajo
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