Then Why?

The Bible tells the story of a tight-knit family from the town of Bethany that was devastated by an unexpected tragedy. This family, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, was very close to Jesus—literally. He would sit at their dinner table and spend hours with them.

But tragedy knocked on their door one day. Lazarus was very ill. So they immediately sent word to Jesus: "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick" (John 11:3).

Now, I would have expected the next verse to say, "So He transported Himself from where He was to where they were." Or, "He spoke the word, and Lazarus was immediately healed." That would make sense to me.

But here’s what actually happened: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was" (verses 5–6). This could almost seem like a contradiction. If Jesus really loved Lazarus, then why didn’t He immediately go and heal him?

When hardship and tragedy strikes our lives, we might ask a similar question: If Jesus really loves me, then why did He let this happen?

Here is the problem: It’s hard to see through eyes filled with tears. We lose perspective. We don’t understand why this is happening to us. We need to remind ourselves that God’s delays are not necessarily His denials. Just because He doesn’t do something as quickly as we want Him to, it doesn’t mean that He never will do it. It simply means that God has His timing just as surely as God has His will.

Even though we cannot see how the situation will end or why it has come upon us, it flows from the love of God, and it is controlled by Him.