Prisoner Of Time?

“Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died… When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:21 & 32.

When our timing does not sync with God’s timing we begin to doubt His reliability. Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus, “the one You love is sick”. But Jesus did not respond based on their timing. Instead He stayed behind even though He loved Lazarus, Jesus did not operate with the timing of Mary and Martha. Jesus eventually showed up after Lazarus had died and had been buried for four days. Both sisters said the exact same thing to Jesus even though they didn’t consult each other. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here on time [our time – earth time], my brother would not have died”. When Mary eventually arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at His feet and said the same thing-“Lord if only you had been here on time [our time – biological time], my brother would not have died”. So they doubted Jesus’ reliability. Even though they used very kind words but what they were saying in essence is, Jesus if you were more reliable our brother would still be alive. The problem they had was that they knew the Jesus that is able to prevent a disaster but they did not know the Jesus that is able to reverse a disaster. Jesus is not only able to prevent a disaster; Jesus is also able to reverse a disaster. So many people are waiting on Jesus but they are looking at the clock – earth timing, biological clock. Lord, You are reliable but tick tock, tick tock. And because His time doesn’t seem to sync with our time, we doubt if He is reliable. But you need to understand that that thing you are scared of, when Jesus shows up He is able to reverse it. Let’s say you are trusting God in the area of childbirth or marriage and you are now fifty. Jesus is able to make you thirty again. Who can question Him? We fret because we think that after a certain time some things will become impossible. But the Bible says, no with God!

Martha and Mary’s message can be reworded to read, ‘Jesus please come before Lazarus dies’. And Jesus says, what if he dies? So he died. Jesus showed up and they said to Him if only You were here on time. Jesus said ‘I am here now. Don’t you understand? Your brother will live again’. They said, yes we know he will live at the resurrection of the dead. Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. I am the One that will raise him up then and I’m here to raise him up now”. Jesus is not and cannot be a prisoner of our timing.

Prayer [song]: I have confidence in You, Jesus. I have confidence in You, any time, any day. I have confidence in You, Jehovah. Amen!