When God Delays | John 11:1–27

This reflection explores how Jesus’ delay in John 11 reveals that His timing is shaped by a greater purpose, inviting us to trust His presence even when circumstances feel final. It challenges us to see waiting not as abandonment but as an invitation to deeper faith in the One who is Himself the resurrection and the life.

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“May the Lord bless you and keep you — and may His presence guide you this week.”

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Today I'll be reading John eleven, verses one through fourteen. A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters Mary and Martha. This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was sick. So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus, telling him, Lord, your dear friend is very sick. But when Jesus heard about it he said, Lazarus' sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this. So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days. Finally he said to his disciples, let's go back to Judea. But his disciples objected. Rabbi, they said, Only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again? Jesus replied, There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world, but at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light. Then he said, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go wake him up. The disciples said, Lord, if he's sleeping, he'll soon get better. They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died, so he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Have you ever prayed for something that felt obvious?

SPEAKER_01 1:54

A person who urgently needed healing, a situation that clearly needed intervention. A moment where God could have stepped in and changed everything. John eleven begins in that kind of a moment. Lazarus is sick. Mary and Martha send a word to Jesus. The message carries more than information. It carries an expectation. If Jesus comes quickly, Lazarus will live. Jesus responds with a statement that sounds hopeful. The sickness is not going to end in death. Then John adds a detail that slows everything down. When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

He loved them, so he stayed. That sequence challenges how we think about love.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

We often expect love to act immediately, but Jesus moves according to a larger purpose. By the time he arrives, Lazarus has been dead for four days. Martha meets him with words many believers are spoken in one form or another. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Her words carry faith and grief at the same time. She believes in Jesus, and yet the loss is real. Jesus answers with one of the clearest statements he ever makes. I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die. Whoever lives by believing in me will never die. He doesn't present resurrection as a future event alone. He speaks about himself. Life is bound to his identity. This moment reveals something difficult to trust in while we wait. Jesus' delays are not absence, they're part of his work. What Martha believed was the end of hope became the setting for a deeper revelation of who Jesus is. Waiting often reshapes our understanding of God. In seasons that feel unfinished we begin to ask what we truly believe about him. Then Jesus asks Martha a question that continues to reach into every generation. Do you believe this? Not whether everything makes sense?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Not whether every step is explained. Do you trust me? Waiting as a way of revealing the answer. Before I close in prayer, here's a question to wrestle with.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Remind me that you are not distant in my waiting. Strengthen my faith to believe that you are still the resurrection and the life.