1. The Strange Stillness of God
Our journey, today, begins in Bethany: (John 11:1-6)
> “Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha… So the sisters sent to Him, saying, ‘Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.’ But when Jesus heard it He said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ … When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was.” (John 11:1-6)
The one He loves is sick.
The sisters send for Him.
They expect His immediate arrival.
But Jesus waits.
Two days.
Long enough for the fever to run its course.
Long enough for life to slip away.
Long enough for hope to cool and questions to multiply.
We know this story, but try to feel it as they felt it:
the bedside vigil, the prayers that become sobs, the final breath, the quiet of a sealed tomb.
And still—silence from the One who could have prevented it.
Many of us have known that silence.
A test result that does not improve.
A child who strays further despite fervent prayer.
A door of opportunity that stays bolted.
You cry, “Lord, where are You?” and it feels as though the heavens answer only with echo.
Waiting is not theoretical; it is visceral.
It hurts.
---
2. A Culture Allergic to Waiting
Part of our struggle is cultural.
We inhabit a world that prizes the instantaneous.
• With a tap on a phone we can summon groceries, hail a car, or stream a movie.
• Our coffee is brewed in seconds; our clothes can be dry-cleaned in an hour.
• If every car in the nation were lined up end to end, someone once joked, ninety percent of the drivers would still try to pass.
This constant acceleration seeps into our souls.
We begin to expect God to act like an app: request, confirm, deliver.
Yet Scripture beats to another rhythm:
“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart” (Psalm 27:14).
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31).
Paul writes of “waiting eagerly” for the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23–25).
The Bible never says waiting is easy.
It simply says it is essential.
Jesus’ delay at Bethany confronts us with that truth.
God’s timetable is not ours.
His slowness is not neglect.
---
3. Delay with Design
When at last Jesus spoke plainly to His disciples, He said,
> “Lazarus is dead. And for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” (John 11:14-15)
Glad?
How can the Lord rejoice over loss?
Because He sees the end from the beginning.
He knows that this apparent tragedy will display His glory and strengthen His followers’ faith.
Jesus wasn’t thinking only of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
He was also shaping the faith of His disciples.
In love He allowed the crisis to unfold so that, when He raised Lazarus, their trust in Him would deepen and His life-giving power would be unmistakable.
What looked like neglect was careful preparation.
What felt like abandonment was mercy.
I remember, as a boy, when a burglar broke into the hospital building where my father worked and where we lived. My childish fear was for my little chemistry set. My father cared about my concern, but his mind was on far larger dangers—protecting lives, securing the premises. I could not see what he saw.
So it is with God.
We view life through a keyhole; He surveys eternity.
We count minutes; He writes history.
What seems late on our wristwatch is exact on His.
---
4. Love That Lingers
Delay can feel like absence.
Mary and Martha must have wondered if Jesus still cared.
Perhaps the disciples whispered the same: If He didn’t rush to John in prison, and now He lingers while Lazarus dies—will He come when we need Him?
But Jesus calls Lazarus “our friend.”
His love never flickered.
Love and delay are not opposites.
The old hymn says it well:
> “There’s not a Friend like the lowly Jesus—
No, not one! No, not one!
Jesus knows all about our struggles;
He will guide till the day is done."
Mercy, not neglect, lay behind every quiet hour.
---
5. Glory at the Tomb
When Jesus finally came to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days.
Decay had begun; no one could claim a fainting spell or delayed heartbeat.
Standing before the grave, Jesus prayed and then cried with a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come forth!”
And Lazarus came out alive.
One preacher has said that if Jesus had not called Lazarus by name, every grave on that hillside would have opened.
Such is the power of His word.
What looked like cruel postponement became the stage for undeniable glory.
Delay was not defeat.
It was the doorway for resurrection.
The same God still rules our waiting.
John, exiled on Patmos, surrounded by sea and silence, could write of a day when
> “God will wipe away every tear… there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.” (Revelation 21:4)
This is not wishful thinking.
It is the certainty that grief, sin, and delay will never have the last word.
---
6. A Word from the Exile
Centuries before Lazarus ever fell ill, God spoke to His people through the prophet Jeremiah. The nation had been carried into Babylon—far from home, their temple in ruins, their future uncertain. And into that long season of waiting the Lord sent a letter:
> “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and will bring you back from captivity.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14)
Those words were not written for people who would be delivered tomorrow. They were addressed to men and women who would live out their lives in a foreign land.
Seventy years of waiting lay ahead. The point of the promise was not instant rescue but assurance of purpose—even in delay God was working a good plan.
The God of Jeremiah is the God of Bethany.
The same Lord who held His people through seventy years of exile is the Lord who waited two extra days so that His glory might be revealed in Lazarus.
He is also the Lord who holds you when life feels stuck between prayer and answer.
---
7. Why God Waits
Why, then, does God allow delay?
Scripture gives us several intertwined reasons.
First, to strengthen faith.
Faith that always receives on demand never matures.
Muscles grow under resistance; faith grows when trust must outlast sight.
Peter writes that the testing of our faith is more precious than gold.
Second, to deepen fellowship.
In the long night of unanswered prayer, we learn to seek God for Himself, not just for His gifts.
The silence becomes a school of intimacy.
Many saints have testified that the seasons of waiting became the richest times of communion.
Third, to display His glory.
At Bethany the delay ensured that the miracle could not be mistaken for coincidence.
When Jesus called Lazarus from the grave after four days, no one could doubt His divine authority.
Our waiting often sets the stage for a testimony that could come no other way.
Fourth, to align us with His larger plan.
We see only a fraction of what He is weaving.
God’s timing fits countless lives and purposes together like pieces of a great mosaic.
None of this removes the sting of delay.
But it gives delay meaning.
---
8. Living Faith in the Meantime
How, then, should we live while the answer tarries?
Keep praying.
Jesus taught His disciples “that they should always pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1).
Prayer is not a vending machine; it is a lifeline.
Even when you see no change, prayer keeps you in the flow of God’s will.
Keep serving.
When exiled in Babylon, Israel was told to build houses, plant gardens, and seek the welfare of the city.
Waiting is never wasted when we use it to bless others.
Keep believing.
Hold to the character of God even when circumstances seem to contradict it.
Say with the psalmist, “I trust in you, O Lord; my times are in your hand” (Psalm 31:14-15).
Keep watching.
Jesus’ parables often end with the call to stay awake and ready.
The delay is not forever.
The Lord who lingered at Bethany will come at the right hour for you.
---
9. Personal Stories of the Long Wait
Many of us could tell of God’s faithfulness discovered only after a long silence.
A parent who prayed for a wandering child for decades.
A church that longed for revival through years of apparent drought.
A patient who endured years of treatment before healing finally came.
Often, when the answer arrives, we find that God has not only solved the immediate problem but has changed us—deepened patience, gentled pride, broadened compassion.
I think of a young couple who longed for a child. Month after month passed with no pregnancy. In the quiet ache of waiting they began to volunteer at a local shelter. There they met a little girl who needed adoption. Years later they say the delay was not wasted; it was the pathway to the daughter God had chosen for them.
Stories like these remind us that God’s timing is never arbitrary.
Every apparent detour is part of a precise and gracious plan.
---
10. Jesus, the Lord of Time
Above all, our hope is not in a schedule but in a Savior.
Jesus Christ entered time and submitted to it.
He waited thirty years before beginning His public ministry.
He endured three years of misunderstanding and rejection.
He waited in Gethsemane for the soldiers to come.
He lay in a borrowed tomb until the third day, and then—right on time—He rose.
He is the Lord of time because He has lived inside it and triumphed over it.
The One who delayed for two days at Bethany is the same One who will never be late when He comes again in glory.
---
11. From Bethany to Your Life
Bring these truths home:
What tomb are you standing beside today?
It might be a relationship that feels dead, a calling that seems buried, a prayer that has cooled.
The Lord who said “Lazarus, come forth!” still speaks life.
What exile are you enduring?
Maybe it is a job that feels like Babylon, or a body that will not heal.
The Lord who promised hope and a future to Jeremiah’s hearers still writes good plans for you.
To wait on the Lord is not passive resignation.
It is active trust—living today in the confidence that His tomorrow is sure.
---
12. The Certain End
The story of Lazarus ends in glory.
The story of history ends in glory.
John, the beloved disciple who watched Jesus call a dead man to life, later saw a vision of the final restoration:
> “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
Every unanswered prayer, every long vigil, every unfulfilled longing will find its completion in that day.
And because Jesus has already conquered death, that day is as certain as the dawn.
---
Conclusion
Waiting is hard.
But waiting is holy.
The delay is not disorder.
It is design.
It does not mean God has forgotten.
It means He is preparing a greater glory.
So keep praying.
Keep serving.
Keep believing.
Keep watching.
The Lord who lingers is the Lord who loves.
He will act—at the right time, in the right way, for your good and His glory.
Let us pray.
> Father, give us grace to trust Your perfect timing.
Teach us to walk in hope when answers tarry.
And keep our eyes on Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, until that day when every tear is wiped away and every waiting ends in joy.
In His name we pray, Amen
