The time is not yet...

One of the things that struck me in our gospel passage Sunday (John 11:1-45) is that Jesus delays returning to Bethany on purpose.  Jesus is sent word that his friend is ill, he likely even knows that his friend is already dead by the time he read the message sent to him – and yet he says, “not yet”.  My first reaction is, “What?! How could he?! Not MY Jesus, he would never do something that!”…  And then I remember the story of the wedding feast and Jesus’ first miracle.  You remember, they had run out of wine and Jesus’ mother came to him and told him the wine was gone.  Like the sisters from Sunday’s text, his mother didn’t tell him to fix it and she didn’t ask him for anything – simply told him the situation… heavily laden with implied desires.  Jesus replied to her – as he did to the sisters – “the time is not yet.”  … Oh, how I don’t like hearing those words!  God’s time is not my time; God’s timing is not my timing; God’s way is not my way.

It causes me to ponder how often I come to God for help, comfort, support – and tell God how he needs to provide it; how he needs to solve it.  Not just that I want things fixed, changed, etc. in my time frame – I also want them resolved my way.  But what God asks is that we allow room in our lives for God to work.  We are asked to place our prayers, our petitions and requests before God and trust that God will be there, at work in the situation, at work in our lives.  Nowhere that I can find (darn it) are we told to place our requests before God and then solve it for him… How difficult it is to relinquish control – to remove our bindings and trappings from certain areas or experiences and allow God room to work.

Where have you bound your life so tightly that you are afraid to let go and give God control and space in which to work?  Can you offer a prayer to God help you let go, help you to give God space to work in the situation and within you?  You may find that God wants to bring the miracle of new life where you thought only healing was possible.

That is my prayer for all of us this day.