When God's Delays Don't Mean Denial: Finding Hope in the Waiting

When God's Delays Don't Mean Denial: Finding Hope in the Waiting
The winter morning was cold and wet, the kind of day when staying home seems far more appealing than venturing out. Yet sometimes the most profound truths arrive on the most uncomfortable days—reminding us that God doesn't wait for perfect conditions to speak into our lives.
The Diagnosis We All Face
Life has a way of delivering diagnoses we never asked for. The word "sick" appears three times in the opening verses of John 11, emphasizing the severity of Lazarus's condition. His sisters, Mary and Martha, faced a crisis that their limited resources couldn't solve. No doctor could help. No remedy was available. Their only hope had a name: Jesus.

We've all been there, haven't we? Standing at the intersection of desperation and faith, staring down circumstances that feel insurmountable. It might be a marriage gasping for breath, a prodigal child wandering far from home, a financial crisis with no visible solution, or a health challenge that doctors can't explain. The diagnosis varies, but the desperation feels universal.

Mary and Martha did what any of us would do—they sent for Jesus. They called the prayer chain, so to speak. They reached out to the one person they knew could change everything. And here's the beautiful truth: Jesus heard them. He always hears us.
The Painful Mystery of Divine Delays
But here's where the story takes an unexpected turn. The Bible tells us that Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And because He loved them, He stayed where He was for two more days.
Read that again slowly. Because He loved them, He stayed.

This defies our human logic. We think love means immediate action, swift rescue, instant relief. We believe that if God truly cared, He would come running the moment we call. But John 11 reveals a profound mystery: sometimes God's love is demonstrated not in prevention, but in His purposeful delay.

Think about Daniel, who prayed for twenty-one days without an answer. For three weeks, heaven seemed silent. Yet the moment Daniel prayed, God had dispatched the answer. Unseen spiritual warfare delayed the delivery, but God had heard from day one.

This is where faith gets tested in the fire. When we pray and nothing changes. When we believe and things get worse. When we trust and the situation dies anyway.

God's delays are not God's denials. There is always a hidden purpose that far outweighs our immediate request.
When Death Arrives Despite Our Prayers
By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days. In Jewish tradition, the spirit was believed to linger near the body for three days. Four days meant dead—completely, irreversibly, unmistakably dead.

Both sisters greeted Jesus with the same heartbroken statement: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Can you hear the mixture of faith and frustration in those words? The belief that Jesus could have prevented this tragedy, coupled with the crushing disappointment that He didn't.

How many of us have prayed similar prayers? "God, if You had just provided that job..." "If You had just healed that relationship..." "If You had just intervened sooner..." We stand at the tomb of our dead dreams, our buried hopes, our finished possibilities, and we wonder where God was when we needed Him most.
Here's the truth that changes everything: death doesn't have the final say when Jesus is involved.
The Demonstration of Resurrection Power
Jesus asked them to roll away the stone. Martha objected—practical, realistic Martha who knew that a four-day-old corpse would smell. She had already grieved, already accepted the loss, already moved on emotionally. Why reopen that tomb?

How many of us have sealed off parts of our lives because we've given up hope? We've grieved over that marriage, that ministry, that calling, that dream. We've rolled the stone in place and walked away, convinced it's too late for God to do anything.

But Jesus said something profound: "Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?"

That "if" is critical. It's not a guarantee—it's a condition. If you believe, you'll see God's glory. But if you quit, if you walk away, if you refuse to roll the stone back, you'll miss the miracle that was just around the corner.
Three Kinds of Divine Work
Sometimes Jesus does preventative work—He shows up and stops the crisis before it happens. We love this kind of miracle. It's clean, convenient, and comfortable.

Sometimes Jesus does prescriptive work—He doesn't prevent the difficulty, but He walks with us through it, giving us exactly what we need for each moment. This requires more faith but builds stronger character.

And sometimes Jesus does resurrection work—He allows something to completely die so He can demonstrate His power to bring it back to life. This is the hardest path, but it brings the greatest glory to God.

The question isn't which kind of work we prefer (we all prefer prevention), but whether we'll trust God regardless of which path He chooses.
The Prayer That Changes Everything
Before Jesus raised Lazarus, He prayed. Not privately, but publicly. He thanked the Father for hearing Him and acknowledged that the Father always hears Him. Then He said something remarkable: "I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe."

Thanksgiving is the key that unlocks God's work in our lives. Even when we don't understand the delay, we can thank God that He hears us. Even when circumstances haven't changed, we can acknowledge that God always hears us. Even when we're standing at a tomb, we can choose gratitude over bitterness.

Our response to disappointment and delay determines whether the watching world believes that Jesus is who He says He is.
When Jesus Speaks One Word
"Lazarus, come forth!"

With one word, everything changed. Death had to release its grip. The impossible became possible. The finished became restarted. The dead came back to life.

One word from Jesus can resurrect your marriage. One word can bring your prodigal home. One word can restore your health, revive your joy, renew your purpose, redirect your path.

It's not over until Jesus says it's over. And as long as you're breathing, He hasn't said it's over.
The Invitation to Believe
So what's dead in your life right now? What have you given up on? What tomb have you sealed shut because you couldn't bear to hope anymore?

The invitation today is simple but profound: roll away the stone. Soften your heart. Let down your guard. Thank God that He hears you. Acknowledge that He always hears you. And believe that He can turn your graveyard into a garden.

God's timing is best, even when we don't understand it. His delays are purposeful, even when they're painful. And His power to resurrect is available, even when all hope seems lost.

The question isn't whether Jesus can do a miracle. The question is whether we'll believe long enough to see it.