AUGUST 10,2023 Because He Loved Us, He Made Us Wait!
“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days” (John 11:5,6 NIV).
Because He Loved Us, He Made Us Wait!
I opened one eye and looked around to see my father, mother, two older brothers, and three older sisters at the time all kneeling with eyes closed and heads bowed as Daddy continued talking to God. It was the 1950s; we were dirt poor, and Daddy was always calling us together to pray. Always! I didn’t understand why we were so poor since we spent so much time talking to the One who had all the power of heaven and earth in His hands. Yet, I felt fortunate to be in this family that was so close to God.
As more years passed and things began to improve for us, I was more puzzled by what Daddy said. He was glad, he said, that God had not given him economic prosperity in earlier years. What? He was glad! Then he added, “God knew that I was not prepared to handle economic success then.”
So, there might have been less praying if God had come right away! Perhaps, if He had come so quickly to our rescue, we would not have gotten so close to Him. We might even have had less appreciation for the troubles and struggles of other people. It was not that He didn’t love us enough to come quickly. He loved us too much to come quickly! So, He made us wait while we built an ironclad, unwavering relationship with Him based on complete trust and faith in Him.
“So, when he heard Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.” He waited until Lazarus died! He waited until rigor mortis set in! He waited until Lazarus was buried in a tomb for four days! But when He finally came and called his name, God got the glory and Lazarus got the victory over death and the grave!
About 14 years after I opened one eye and peeked at my family in the posture of prayer in an old, dilapidated farmhouse in the Slashes Lowlands, and after years of sharecropping in Enfield, God said, “Jesse Sumner, take your family away from this place.” My father moved his family off the confining, sharecropping farm into a lovely new brick house on our own land, while one by one his children matriculated through college and left poverty behind.
Is this Weekly Blog too elementary for you? It’s a simple message. Perhaps, you are not where you thought you would be by now. Maybe He hasn’t healed you yet, gotten you out of debt, your child out of prison, or fixed your most pressing issue. Could it be that it’s because He loves you so much that He wants your victory to be like Lazarus walking out of the grave! And He wants it to be a lasting victory for you that brings glory to His name!