Ever been late? Late for a bus or train; late for a meeting, getting the kids to school, meeting a friend? How many of these emotions do you recognise as part of being late: anxiety, fear, regret, worry, panic, embarrassment.
Sometimes we are late and it’s not our fault and there’s nothing we can do about it – a delayed flight, an emergency, someone who needs our help immediately. There are other causes, probably more common. See if you identify with any of these:
- Faffing around. Taking time to do inconsequential things instead of getting on and getting ready
- Being too optimistic about what you can fit in before it’s time to go. As an extreme example of this I had a friend whose Uncle would start a major job on the morning of going away on holiday, like tidying out the garage or mending a bit of furniture.
- Simply being disorganised. I was once working in the house of a family who were about to leave on flight to a country in Africa. Granted they only lived 10 minutes from the airport, but they were so disorganised that they ended up leaving 15 minutes before the end of check in time. The funny thing was that I was more stressed than they were!
There have been times when I have been late, and therefore rushing, and I have forgotten to do something important. I’ve come back home later to find I’d locked the door but left the keys in. Not clever! (A couple of times I have been late because I have forgotten the appointment – anybody done that?)
There was an occasion where both Mary and Martha reproached Jesus with the words “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother [Lazarus] would not have died”. They said this independently of each other, using exactly the same words. They had obviously had a conversation about Jesus’ not being there on time. Had they known why Jesus turned up too late to heal Lazarus, they might have had more to say!
The full account is in John chapter 11. Verse 6 records that although He knew how sick Lazarus was, He stayed where he was for another two days. He had a choice. He chose to do nothing. He said to His disciples “Lazarus’ sickness will not end in death.” By the time Jesus got to Bethany though, Lazarus was very definitely dead, and buried too.
Here is the first very important lesson for us. How things are now is not necessarily how they will end.
Jesus said Lazarus’ sickness wouldn’t end in death. When they all arrived at Bethany, what they saw looked like the end, but it wasn’t. Jesus had already said there would be a different end. What we see now in our lives and circumstances is not how it need always be. God has decreed a better end than what you see right now. We can look at the way things are and say “we’ll that’s just how it is – I just have to live with it.” Or we can say “No! I’m holding out for a better ending. Lazarus, come out!”
It would be easy at the moment when much of normal life has disappeared, when the news media is in constant competition to make us more scared (simply because that makes a good storyline), when the future looks uncertain and when hope drains away, to settle in our hearts for a second-class end. To leave Lazarus in his grave would have been a second-class end. Jesus specialises in First-Class endings. But it sometimes looks as if He is not interested, not paying attention, not caring about what we are going through now. Just plain late. Too late.
Here’s the second important thing. God is never late, and how I feel now is not the information that God needs in order to decide when He will act.
God is never late. That means He is never rushing around at the last minute trying to get things done. He has no anxiety, worry or panic. He is not regretting taking too long over earlier tasks, as if that made Him late. One thing God never said was “sorry guys, I meant to be here earlier.” As the creator of time, and the Lord of time, He can never be late
Here’s the third important thing. How I feel now is nowhere near as important as His glory. His glory revealed trumps my feelings.
If we can learn this then life will be a lot easier to negotiate. Mary and Martha’s grief was important. It moved Jesus to anger at what Satan and sin does, and to tears. But the more important thing was revealing the glory and majesty of almighty God. However, if we follow Jesus (literally leave everything else and be part of what He is doing) then we get to share in His glory (John 17 v 22).
The truth is that God has promised prophetically on multiple occasions to pour out His power and Presence in a great move that will cover the earth. This will sweep millions into His Kingdom, and we are waiting for that. We could look at our present predicament and say nothing’s happening. ‘Lord, if only you had been here….’ But God is not late, never slow. He who is coming will come and not delay (Hebrews 10 v 37). This might feel like a time of waiting, but it is a time in which to be prepared, like the ten wise bridesmaids in Matthew ch 25. It’s time to be living Kingdom now and being the church wherever we are. [If you want to know more about this I have added some fresh material to the ‘Articles’ page].
Church is out there 