God's Timing - Not About Us, but Still Best for Us!

John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” (NKJV)

Lazarus was no doubt praying Jesus would come and heal him as he had seen him do with so many others. He was probably disappointed that his pain was prolonged and may have even come to a conscious realization that it was too late before he died. Surely Lazarus' sisters, friends and other family thought Jesus would come quickly to His aid, especially since this was a loyal and loved friend. But Jesus' response is shocking!

"When he heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was" (V. 6). Of course Jesus has said this would not be unto death, we know Lazarus does die and understand that Jesus meant it will not end in permanent death. However, real people with relationships with Jesus, loved by Jesus, are being left to suffer sickness and loss while He takes care of some other business.

This is hard to square with the typical thinking that our earthly needs and wants are God's highest orders of business. Jesus makes it clear that His timing is for His purposes as He says that this sickness and His response to it is, "for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (V. 4b). This is an interesting paradox however, because as it turns out we need to see the glory of God so we can know and worship Him! God using any and every situation, good or bad from our perspective, to reveal Himself, His nature and His power serves a far greater need for us (Seeing Him) and accomplishes a far better eternal purpose (His glory) than if He met every need and want in our way and on our timetable!

Waiting on God is hard and we assume that when He does meet the need it will be in our best interest, but we must remember that seeing Him, knowing Him, experiencing Him is how He glorifies Himself and is in our best interest - regardless of how or when He works!


"Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."