Waiting on Jesus

Dad had been in ICU for about 3 weeks when the doctors asked for a conference call with our family. They were worried that he was just sort of existing but not improving and there was nothing else they could do for him. But when we met for the call, the doctors were pleased to tell us that during the past 16 hours they’d actually seen improvement in Dad and they were cautiously optimistic. It was a miracle! They wanted to take Dad off the ventilator that day. If he couldn’t breathe on his own, they wanted to know whether they should make him comfortable and let him die or whether we wanted him to have a tracheotomy.

We decided on the tracheotomy and then prayed and prayed and prayed. I remember lying awake that night begging God to let Dad breathe on his own. Of course, I didn’t know that Dad had been taken off the ventilator at 5:00 that evening and put back on by 9:30 that night. His lungs were just too weak. We waited all night for a phone call but weren’t notified of this until noon the next day. I was devastated.

About this time God gave me the story of Lazarus. Dad had pointed out this verse to me years ago. “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 loved His friends, and yet He waited because He had a greater plan. Mary and Martha wanted immediate physical healing, while He desired spiritual healing—for them and those around them. Jesus’ delay did not mean Jesus didn’t love. I had to believe that His delay was because He had something better. Of course, in the midst of everything, I didn't believe it immediately, but looking back, I realize that God had something better planned.

As the days and weeks passed and Dad grew stronger and was finally weaned off the ventilator, people kept praying for him. And as I sent out my daily e-mails I added in verses or thoughts that God had given me that day. Those e-mails were a life-line for me, and after Dad came home, people at church said how much they appreciated those notes, too. I had no idea how God was using His Word to touch people's lives as they prayed, but He was. Our family won't know until Heaven how God used Dad's illness to bring people closer to Him. What we do know is that when we wait on Jesus, we are not waiting in vain.

Getting back to our story... Lazarus dies, and Jesus comes to Mary and Martha four days too late according to their reckoning. He sees Martha's sorrow and He speaks these amazing words, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die" (John 11:25-26). Then He weeps. Perhaps He weeps at the sorrow of His dear friends or at the fact that death continues to terrorize the people He loves. Then He does was He had planned to do from the beginning; He raises Lazarus from the dead! "Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him" (John 11:46).

When we wait on Jesus, we don't have to wait forever. We only need to wait until the time is right. When it is, He will act. (Yes, He could have acted by taking Dad to Heaven, and that still would have been loving.) He loves us, and He doesn't make us wait any longer than necessary. He has perfect timing and perfect love. So if you're waiting on Jesus right now, be encouraged—some day you will understand why you had to wait for so long. And in the meantime, He has so much to teach you while you wait.