She had sat on that pew for 80 years.  When she was a young bride, she had moved into the house next door to the church.  Every Sunday she came to church and sat on that pew listening to the Scriptures with her heart.  As her family grew, she brought them to church with her.  Then one of her children grew up and drifted away from his childhood truths, but she continued steadfastly.  Decade after decade she faithfully listened to the teachings and let them sink deep into her soul.  Four decades passed without her rebel sitting beside her in church.  Then when he was in his fifties, he came back to sit with her.  At first, he showed up at church to please her and his wife.  The three sat on that pew.  Two faithful ones and a half-hearted one.  But each Sunday they soaked in truth from the Scriptures.   When the returning rebel was in his late sixties a transformation took place.  He wanted to be on that pew.  His heart was warm and alive to the truth.  He drank in every word and started to live by it.  Seven years passed and then the mother happily went home to her Lord at the age of 102. Just eight months later her former rebel-turned-faithful followed.  

Yesterday Husband attended the memorial service of this rebel who found his way home.  You see, that rebel had been Husband’s high school math teacher who gave him a lifelong mastery and confidence in math of all kinds.  We think that even in his years far away from God, the teachings in his formative years about caring for others shaped his career.  He cared about his students.  He built them up with personal attention and encouragement.  He remembered them.  A year ago Husband got a yearning to renew ties with this former teacher.  He tracked down his teacher’s address and just showed up on his doorstep.  To his amazement, his teacher not only remembered him but remembered his two siblings as well.  Details about all three of them!  This teacher was the one who bet Husband in high school that he wouldn’t make it to 21 without getting drunk.  The clever teacher promised him money if Husband stayed sober until he was 21.  On Husband’s twenty-first birthday, he knocked on his former teacher’s door.  Without hesitation, the teacher answered the door with, “You’re here for your money, aren’t you?”  And gladly gave it to him.  That was typical of the teacher’s personal involvement with his students.

During the long years of the teacher’s wanderings, I can only imagine the mother’s heartache as decade followed decade.  Even when he returned to church, she must have sensed his lukewarm commitment.  How, in her advanced age, she must have rejoiced to finally see him come close to his Lord!  She had a long obedience.  She modeled waiting in hope.  It got me thinking of the many heroes of our faith who waited in hope.  Poor young, innocent Joseph waiting in Pharoah’s dungeon to be delivered.  Abraham waiting for the promised child when it was impossible for Sarah to conceive.  David waiting to become king and refusing to rush God’s timing.  The prophet, Hosea, waiting for his unfaithful wife to change.  Paul shut up in prison waiting for release whether by death or by deliverance.  John, the exile, awaiting his homecoming.  The saints in Heaven beseeching their God with, “How long [till the culmination]”?

Did you know that God delays answering us because he loves us so much that he wants us to have front row seats to the display of his glory and he wants to grow our faith?  

We are told that Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  Yet when the sisters sent a pleading message to Jesus to come right away and make their brother better, the Lord delayed.

“So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”  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 . . . 
he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,  and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.”  John 11

Jesus delayed because he loved them and wanted to show himself more fully to them.  They expected him to come right away and heal their brother.  But Jesus had a bigger plan.  He stretched their faith to the limit and then displayed his matchless power right before their startled eyes.  Bringing their brother back from the dead?!  Their timetable pleaded for ‘just’ another healing from Jesus.  But God’s timetable required a resurrection.  Our requests are delayed for the purpose of growing our faith and showing us the magnificence of God in a very personal way.  “If you believe, you will see the glory of God,” Jesus promised.  When circumstances are bleak, and our hearts ache, we lean on our sovereign God who loves us and wants to increase our faith and show us his glory. Let’s wait patiently to see his glory. And let’s be happy in the Lord while we’re waiting!

“Yet I will wait patiently …

 

 

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

 

 

 

 

 

 

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior. 
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.”  Habakkuk 3:17-19

 

 

 

 

 

Shining Light photo credit K. Martin 2018