Dear Amy,

What does perfect timing look like?

Some think it looks like that scene at Helm’s Deep, where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli with some of the Rohirrim defend against an overwhelming army of orcs. They are expecting Gandalf to show up with the Riders of Rohan, but for so long he doesn’t come. After the longest time, when it looks like all may be lost, finally he arrives, riding Shadowfax and wielding his staff with great power against the evil hordes. Victory is won and the friends are reunited.

But what if that doesn’t happen? Consider this.

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

When he heard that Lazarus was sick, Jesus stayed where he was two more days.

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

― John 11:1, 3, 6, 17, 21

Imagine for a moment you don’t know what happens next⸺in our own lives that is certainly the case. If we are to learn anything here, we have to enter into the story, and right now it looks like callous disregard by Jesus for the ones who love and trust him.

But what it looks like and what it actually is are poles apart, here and so often in our own lives. What have we missed? Here’s what.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

― John 11:5-6

Jesus stayed where he was for two more days precisely because he loved them. How perplexed were those who were depending on him. How abandoned they must have felt. Just like us they couldn’t see what was actually happening.

What did happen next? Jesus wept with the sisters, joining with them in their grief and their pain. So much pain. How he shared in their grief. His tears were real, because the pain was real, even knowing what he was about to do. And then he raised Lazarus to life! Hallelujah! What a saviour! It was precisely because he loved them that he chose this path, revealing to them both his unfathomable love and his incomparably great power for those who believe. For us too.

Trust him, Amy, even when it looks like he hasn’t come through for you in time. He most certainly is doing exactly that! 🙏