Ever feel like God is late? You pray for something and you wait for God to answer your prayer, but he doesn’t answer it. Or he doesn’t do what you asked. We know God isn’t obligated to answer our every prayer, but the request did not seem unreasonable. Why wouldn’t He answer it?
If you have experienced something like this recently, I would ask you to consider the account of Martha and her brother Lazarus. In this story Mary and Martha both ask Jesus to come to heal their brother who is sick. However, Jesus purposely doesn’t come. Jesus waits until Lazarus is dead.
When Jesus finally arrived Martha said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died," John 11:21. Martha was probably upset, and I’m sure you would be too. But God had a plan that neither Mary or Martha could have predicted. Jesus allowed Lazarus to die so that He could raise him up again. Jesus wanted to glorify Himself and the Father more than Mary and Martha could have predicted, and He did.
In the end, Jesus used the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead to bring people to salvation. John 11:45 tells us, "Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him." God used the apparent "tragedy" for the good of others, and the glory of Himself.
So when you find yourself in a predicament where it seems God is not answering your prayers, be patient. Pray that God will have His perfect will. If we wait for God’s plan, we will find that it is greater than anything we could have imagined.
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us," – Ephesians 3:20
For it is God which worketh in you, 