GOD MAY SEEM SLOW, BUT HE'S NEVER LATE
Psalm 90:10, John 11: 17-46, Isaiah 53:3, Hebrews 2: 14-18, 2 Cor. 1:3–11, Hosea 6:1, Isaiah. 53:5


“The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away” (Ps. 90:10).

Death is a reality all of us must face. When we do, we are given a choice as to how we react.

When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem (about two miles away). Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him. But Mary remained seated in the house. Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.”
“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. Martha said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?”
“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” As soon as she heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him. Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met Him. The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. So they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and told Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died!” When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was angry in His spirit and deeply moved. “Where have you put him?” He asked.
“Lord,” they told Him, “come and see.”
Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “Couldn't He who opened the blind man's eyes also have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, angry in Himself again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. “Remove the stone,” Jesus said. Martha, the dead man's sister, told Him, “Lord, he already stinks. It's been four days.” Jesus said to her, “Didn't I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You heard Me. I know that You always hear Me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so they may believe You sent me.” After He said this, He shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him and let him go.”
Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what He did believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. (John 11:17–46)

“Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus” (John 11:5).


In desperate times, God is stretching us to believe in the greater PURPOSES of God.


In those moments of desperation, despair, and doubt, God is moving us toward a CONFESSION in His CONTROL.

Jesus’ ministry to us is individual and personal.
He always meets us in the quiet.
He finds us when we are alone, or feeling alone, and there He comforts us.
In our distress He brings peace; in our fear He calls us to deepen our faith.

“When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was angry in His spirit and deeply moved” (John 11:33).

The greatest thing Jesus did was to bring us the news of a God who cares.

Do you run from God, or to God?

“a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3 NKJV).



God knows when I hurt. He knows the pain I feel.



We are not alone in desperate times.

Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, He also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the Devil—and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. For it is clear that He does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham's offspring. Therefore He had to be like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tested and has suffered, He is able to help those who are tested. (Hebrews 2:14–18)


Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so our comfort overflows through Christ. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in the endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will share in the comfort.
For we don't want you to be unaware, brothers, of our affliction that took place in the province of Asia; we were completely overwhelmed—beyond our strength—so that we even despaired of life. However, we personally had a death sentence within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and He will deliver us; we have placed our hope in Him that He will deliver us again. And you can join in helping with prayer for us, so that thanks may be given by many on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many. (2 Cor. 1:3–11)

We are to be MINISTERS of the mercy of God who, in our moments of great crisis, became our SAVIOR.


“For He has torn us, and He will heal us; He has wounded us, and He will bind up our wounds” (Hosea 6:1).

“But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds” (Isa. 53:5).

So regardless of the situation, no matter how desperate it may seem, remember that the nail-scarred hands bring healing and hope to your scars.