"TWO DAYS LONGER!"

John 11:1-6                                      (ESV)

“1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

2 It was Mary who anointed the LORD with ointment and wiped HIS feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.

3 So the sisters sent to HIM, saying, "LORD, he whom you love is ill."

4 But when JESUS heard it HE said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of GOD, so that the SON of GOD may be glorified through it."

5 Now JESUS loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, HE stayed "TWO DAYS LONGER" in the place where HE was.”

Much has been written about Lazarus and the circumstances surrounding his life and death.  Scripture makes it rather clear that JESUS loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, therefore it wouldn't make SENSE that JESUS would linger "TWO DAYS LONGER" after hearing Lazarus was ill.  JESUS didn’t immediately leave and come to the aid of Lazarus when notified of his illness.  Surely HE didn’t allow HIS friend to suffer and die, knowing that HE loved him so??

JESUS acted precisely when GOD and HIS SON would be glorified with HIS actions, not when Mary and Martha "thought" HE should.  HE certainly loved them, but their vision was clouded by the circumstances.  The pressures of "this world" has a way of obscuring what we SEE with what is REALLY happening.   Scripture doesn't indicate what JESUS was doing "TWO DAYS LONGER", but we can rest assured that JESUS and FATHER GOD was glorified by the delay.  

Can it be that we think we know better than GOD sometimes and desire to have things done our way, on our timing?  Most of the time we not only want our will to be done, but we think GOD needs to provide on our timetable.   To my knowledge, Scripture doesn't indicate how old Lazarus was when he went to Heaven FOR GOOD, but he initially had to wait "TWO DAYS LONGER" "for the glory of GOD, so that the SON of GOD may be glorified through it."  Maybe we need to be willing to wait a couple of days so GOD and JESUS are Glorified in our lives???