TRUST AMIDST DISAPPOINTMENT

"Lord if you had been here, my brother will not have died"(John 11:21).

1. Martha made a seemingly simple statement but in nested in it are deeper contemplations. In that one statement, we see three core points to ponder on: trust, disappointment and sorrow. First, Martha’s confidence in the ability of Jesus to heal, her disappointment associated with the delay in arriving, and the sorrow of losing Lazarus her brother.

Often, we wander and veer further away from God when outcomes do not turn out the way we want. Instead of trusting more, we trust less. It is therefore interesting that amidst disappointment and sorrow, Martha could still see trust in Jesus. That should be a learning point for us.

2. According to the timeline of Martha and the rest of the family, Jesus arrived late. Instead of urgently responding to their request to attend while Lazarus was sick, he arrived on the fourth day after the initial request was made. That did not seem to be the attitude of one ‘whom he loved’.

But don’t be confused, Jesus was not late, He arrived on time. His timelines simply did not align with his audience. The ‘when’ of God may not always match those of men, but divine timing is always the right timing.

#sly