There seems to be no urgency in what Jesus is doing. Why does He delay? We know that He loved Lazarus, and Martha, and Mary. Just imagine how difficult it must have been for Him to remain when He was fully aware of the pain Mary and Martha were suffering upon the loss of their brother. And yet He did.

Jesus is never in a hurry and He is never moved by external forces. He only does things because God tells Him to, and He only does them when God tells Him to do them. He never gives in to what seems to be the best course of action.

Mary and Martha were desperately hoping that Jesus would heal their brother. They must have looked up that dusty road countless times before He finally came. Why did He delay? He could have healed Lazarus right at that moment from where He was, just as He did the centurion’s servant (Mat 8:13). What about our own prayer requests? Jesus sometimes does not do things the way we would like them done, or He sometimes delays in doing them.

Matthew 8:13  Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

Some things need time to work properly and time is an element in all the good things we get out of life. We don’t put our clothes into the washing machine and take them right back out; we wait for the machine to completely do its work of cleansing. An antibiotic must be taken over several days for it to do its work of healing. How can we expect a broken heart to be healed in a day?

The greatest miracle God works is changing our wills to become conformed to His. A will may be broken in a moment, but it takes time to bend it into another shape. A curved chair back is made by soaking the wood and bending it for several days in a mold. So it is with our wills — it takes time for God to work in us until we come fully into submission to His Lordship in our lives.

Besides all that, God’s timing is not ours. With Him a day is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). There are some insects that are hatched, live, and die all in the same day. What is “long” to them would be very “short” to us. So it is with the eternal God.

2 Peter 3:8  But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

Even though we don’t understand why God doesn’t answer our prayers in the timing or in the manner we want, our response should always be one of trust and total reliance upon Him. Only He knows what is best for us.