God Has a Purpose in the Delay

As we read Scripture, there is a level of mystery to many of the ways Jesus operated and interacted with those He encountered. I often marvel at the wisdom and discernment that He walked in. When Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead in John 11, we see Him working in one of those peculiar ways that at face value, does not make sense to our earthly thinking. Jesus is with His disciples when He receives the news of Lazarus’s illness and upon hearing the news, verse 6 notes that Jesus “stayed two days longer in the place where He was.” Human reasoning would say that Jesus should leave immediately. Earthly thinking would say that He must get to Lazarus as soon as possible. But His ways are not our ways.

I believe John 11:14-15 details the reason why Jesus waited. There was a purpose in His delay. After telling His disciples that Lazarus has passed away, He makes this astounding statement: “for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” At this moment, Jesus didn’t show concern for Lazarus’s state of being. Verse 4 indicates that Jesus knew how this all would end. Rather, it would seem that Jesus purposely delayed His travel so as to wait until Lazarus had died, knowing that the result would be increased faith in His disciples. 

Up until this point, the disciples had witnessed Jesus raise Jairus’s daughter who had just passed away and a widow’s son who was in the midst of his own funeral procession. But someone who was dead for four days and already in a tomb wrapped in graveclothes? That was new territory for the disciples. 

The word ‘believe’ in the original Greek is defined as this: to signify that one’s faith is preserved, strengthened, increased, raised to the level which it ought to reach. This is what Jesus was after. He wanted to see the faith of the disciples preserved, strengthened, and increased through this seemingly hopeless situation. And the means for doing this was to wait longer in the place He was staying. It was almost as if Jesus waited until Lazarus was really dead to allow the faith of the disciples to increase all the more.

Our Personal Times of Waiting

It is inevitable that in our own lives, we will similarly face situations like the disciples did where it seems that the Lord is taking us into uncharted territory, where the prospect of how things will turn out in a given circumstance is quite bleak. In the interim time of waiting for God to intervene, our earthly response is often to despise the delay. We find ourselves crying out to the Lord for breakthrough in a hopeless job situation, a seemingly failed marriage, a child who has walked away from the Lord, becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of change. And yet, what if the purpose in the delay is that we may believe? What if the delay is God’s divine plan for faith to be developed and increased in us? What if in praying the delay away, we are forfeiting the rich gift of faith that comes through testing and waiting?

A delay in answered prayer is often an invitation to truly place our faith in Jesus. It puts us in a position where we can no longer rely on human methods or systems to get ourselves out of a situation. There was literally nothing the disciples could do in their own strength and ability to bring Lazarus back to life. In these times, God becomes our only hope and in that, we learn what it means to actually have faith in His ability to save, heal, and deliver us from seemingly hopeless situations. We have an opportunity to lean into the uncertainty and uncomfortableness of these times and allow our faith to grow in a way that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.

I am not suggesting that every time there is delayed answer to prayer or a prolonged, trying season that it is solely for the purpose of faith being increased. There is a real enemy that we face and real spiritual warfare that we encounter and with that, can come legitimate hindrances (see Daniel 10:10-14.) However, even when the enemy is involved in the delay, God is still sovereign over that situation. We can stand firm knowing that the Lord is still using it to develop faith in us. I believe there is wisdom in not automatically assuming every delayed answer to prayer is a direct result of spiritual warfare that we must break through. Many times the period of waiting can simply be God establishing greater faith in us. Sometimes we are more concerned about getting ourselves out of a challenging season while God is concerned about producing something in us that holds eternal value.

The God Who Raises the Dead

In 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, Paul describes being at the end of himself, perhaps similar to the hopelessness the disciples must have experienced after receiving the news of Lazarus’s death. Paul says “we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.” He was in the midst of an extremely hopeless situation that caused him great distress. But he goes on to say that these burdens were to “make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” Paul’s hope was not in his own ability to produce results and remove himself from his trials, but in our God who can do abundantly more than we can ask or imagine.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ and currently find yourself in a place similar to Paul where the circumstances you are facing are causing you to despair, remember this: you serve the God who raises the dead. He takes the dead things in our lives and brings forth life and fruitfulness if we are willing to yield and surrender to His timing and His ways. In the waiting, He is preserving, strengthening, and increasing your faith. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion.