Waiting (II)

But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)

In my last post, I defined waiting as believing with an expectation; that we will do nothing outside God’s counsel and we will continue to wait until He comes to help us.

There are two types of waiting, and in the first part, we looked into waiting on God daily. In this post, I will be considering the second type of waiting.

The second type is as regards waiting on God for things or fulfilment of His promises. I will illustrate this with the story of how Lazarus and his sisters drawing out lessons on waiting on God. 

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

John 11:1,3,5 (NKJV)

This chapter starts with an overview of Lazarus state. Lazarus was not dead at the beginning of the story; just very sick. We were also made to know that Jesus loved both Lazarus and His sisters. “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” This was written so that we have a foundation that precedes the chapter’s following events.

Often, when we go through certain circumstances that rock our boats, we often question the love of God, but here we are shown that Jesus loved them and His love hasn’t changed even in this situation.

[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.”

[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.”

[11] These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

[12] Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.”

[13] However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.

John 11:3-7, 11-13 (NKJV)   

When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, He didn’t rush down immediately to heal him. Instead, He stayed two more days were He was. He stayed because He Knew the end already.

This is why He said in verse 4 that Lazarus was not dead, but asleep – although, in the natural realm, Lazarus died. He explained further in verse 15 that everything that happened and would happen was so that they may believe that He is the resurrection and the Life. The Passion Translation states as thus, “You have another opportunity to see who I am so that you will learn to trust in me.”

Lazarus dies, and Jesus doesn’t get to Bethany until four days after his death.

The question that comes to mind is, if they had sent for Jesus and Lazarus, why didn’t they wait for Jesus before they buried him?

After Lazarus died, as we continue in this passage we will see that Mary and Martha were not waiting specifically for Jesus to come and wake him up, because He was originally invited to come and heal him. But we can draw out lessons from this.

Sometimes, we find ourselves in circumstances where we have waited for the Lord to change our situation. It could be that we are trusting God for healing, for our finances, marriage, a job or a child, and it looks like God is not coming forth.

There are other times where we have the word of God (His promises) concerning that particular thing and it is like God Himself has set us up for that situation, not that we chose it for ourselves.

The interesting part is that we are waiting patiently, 1 month, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years…yet things seem to get worse. The pain from the illness is getting worse, our landlord is threatening fire and brimstone, there is pressure to get married, we have lost the job.

What should you do? Continue to wait? Will God show up? Can you sustain your belief in His promises or will you look for an alternative? Will you believe, wait for His counsel, trust Him and rely on Him, or will you go your own way or do your own thing, or submit to the pressure?

For Martha and Mary, waiting meant giving up, burying Lazarus and settling with the comfort that he would be resurrected on the Last Day.

Beloved, when Lazarus’s body had spent four days in the grave, stinking and rotting away, Our Lord Jesus showed up. Jesus wasn’t bothered because He knew the end of the situation, and this was why He had told his disciples that Lazarus was sleeping, not dead.

When He came, He didn’t apologise for coming late, neither was He suggest that He should have arrived earlier. Instead, He wept. He wept because He saw the frailty of man and was sorry for us.

He asked them to take away the stone. He was reminded by Martha of something noteworthy:

Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

John 11:21-25; NKJV 

Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:45

Martha and Mary were content with Lazarus resurrection on the last day. Jesus had to remind her,

“Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

John 11:40 (NKJV)

The question He posed to her was concerning faith.

A friend once said to me, every situation of life for a believer is always asking one question, that is, a faith question.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

Habakkuk 2:3-4 (NKJV)

A promise is for an appointed time, it will come to pass, God will show up. Notice that He said, if it tarries, wait for it. New Loving Translation puts it this way: “But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.”

Also, God isn’t just interested in us receiving the promise but also what we learn about Him and who we become in the process of waiting for it.

Dear friend, as we continue on the path of faith, we have to know that waiting is part of the journey. A wise person once said “our journey of faith is not a sprint but a marathon”. This means that there are promises that will be immediate, there are others that we have to hold on to our confession of faith with patience till we receive the physical manifestation of such promises.

In summary, it takes patience to wait on God without trying to control the narrative to obtain all that Christ has made available for us. Waiting requires our faith.