When God Misses Our Deadline — E.A. Johnston

There are seasons which enter a person's life whereby they're often placed in a bad straight, in a severe trial, and they need God to work a miracle in their lives to show themselves strong on their behalf.

And the storm of adversity which they are in is so chaotic and desperate and hopeless that if God does not come and answer to their prayer and deliver them by this deadline, they are sunk. To them, it is a Red Sea experience where deliverance has to come, and it has to come at a certain hour or all hope is gone.

In other words, these individuals, in the midst of their trial and storm, had a deadline and it had to be met. Perhaps a legal deadline or a financial deadline had to be met, or it spelled certain ruin and disaster.

There was a real need. They had a real deadline that had to be met, and in some cases, when the deadline arrived and God did not deliver as they hoped, then despondency set in because they felt God had let them down and hopelessness took over, and a desperate situation became more desperate.

At times such as these, the shock is so great and faith is tried in the disappointment of God's non-response or rescue. When God misses our deadline, it can become deadly on a number of levels if we take our eyes off of Him.

My message this evening, friends, is entitled, When God Misses Our Deadline. And before we attribute any unkindness towards the attributes of God, let me state that this message is called, When God Misses Our Deadline.

It is our deadline, not His. Now let me proceed into this vital message, which I hope will help someone tonight who may be in a trial so severe that they too need a miracle from God, and if God does not show up, they are sunk.

The Biblical Setting in John 11

Our text can be found in the Gospel of John in chapter 11. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. There are seasons of life which we enter into. Some seasons pass beneath unclouded skies and plenty of sunshine abounds.

Other seasons, the skies darken and storm clouds suddenly appear out of nowhere, and what ensues is a black period of adversity and trial, grief and sorrow, emotional numbness besets us, and life becomes something to be endured rather than lived.

It is difficult to function beneath a continual downpour of more bad news and deepened troubles. As believers, we must stand on our Bibles and the truths contained therein. We must exercise our faith and live our lives unto God in obedience to Him and hope in His Word and rely on His Spirit.

It's easy to play armchair quarterback and attempt to put yourself in someone else's shoes and make observations and draw conclusions on how you would behave and act in such similar circumstances, but unless a person passes through the same valley of despair, there can be no concrete answers without knowing the same pain and experiencing the same suffering.

There may be a person now within the sound of my voice whose world has recently been turned upside down and you feel everything is quickly spinning out of control all around you and it seems as if things will worsen before they get better, if they improve at all.

Your hope is hanging on a tattered thread and your faith is stretched as far as it can go, and if God does not show up and deliver you, it is curtains for you and your family. Friends can only help to a certain degree, and some friends even judge you.

Some forsake you in this particular trial, and it feels that you are the only person in the world at times, and the world is crumbling beneath your shaking feet. I know the feeling, friends. I've lived through such ordeals.

I have experienced the pain and the suffering, the great anxiety and depression, the grief and the loss, the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that only a great God could remove. I've been in my tunnels of affliction, and perhaps what I have learned through my own failures and disappointments can help you to cope with your ordeal and to hope in your God in such a way, friend, that he gets you through to the other side.

Our text can be found in the Gospel of John in chapter 11. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. It's the familiar story of that little family of Martha and Mary and Lazarus who had the great distinction of being friends of Jesus.

It was said of their little home in Bethany that it was such a place of retreat for their master that Jesus felt comfortable there. It was a place where he could relax from the strain and press of the crowds, kick his sandals off, so to speak, and find refreshing solitude amongst friends.

Jesus Delays While Lazarus Is Sick

In our passage from John's Gospel, we see that Jesus receives the news from the two sisters that their brother Lazarus is sick. It's an urgent request to come quickly, for the need is great and the hour is getting late.

And we see in our text a strange and unexplainable event take place. We see the inaction of our Lord in regard to their request. Let us pick up the narrative in verse 5 of chapter 11 at this time, friends.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. I will pause there. Jesus loved Martha, a busy bossy Martha who ordered him around that particular day while she was preparing a meal for him and his disciples.

Martha was in his face that day ordering him around and questioning him that he didn't care she had to prepare a meal alone while Mary sat at his feet. So we see quiet reflect of Mary whom Jesus said possessed the one thing needful.

Then we have Lazarus of whom we know little to next to nothing about his temperament and personality. Yet Jesus loved each one of them despite their faults. And do you know what, dear friend? Jesus loves me despite my faults.

And Jesus loves you despite your faults as well, friend. He loved them, our text states. Now let us go to the next verse. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

I will pause here again, friends. This verse speaks of the unexplicable divine delays that sometimes pierce the life of a believer with sorrow and grief, pain and suffering. Why did not Jesus come when the sister sent their urgent request to him?

When we pray to our Lord in our desperate need, why does he delay in his appearance to us and our deliverance of us out of our dire situation? Why are the delays, we must ask ourselves. In the providence of God, there was a specific reason for the delay here in the life of this little family of friends that Jesus loved.

As we read further into the passage, we learn that in this particular case, it was for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. The death of Lazarus gave Jesus the occasion to work that glorious miracle of raising the dead man to life.

Listen, friends. Often the afflictions of the saints are designed for the glory of God. So we see here in our text that the divine delay of Jesus in the circumstance of Martha and Mary and Lazarus had a great purpose behind it that no human eye could fathom nor human mind could understand.

He delayed coming to them that he might try them and through the midst of their trial, they learned to lean more upon their God and discover more about themselves from this dire adversity and to be witnesses in the power of God in the life of a believer.

Martha Faces the Missed Deadline

Now I want us to notice several aspects from this theme of when God misses our deadline. For it was a fact that Martha and Mary had a dread deadline here, a great need, an urgency that had to be met on the behalf of their dying brother.

But the deadline comes and goes and the brother is dead. All hope is gone. It's too late. Even Martha, upon finally seeing Jesus' remarks, Lord, if thou has been here, my brother had not died. She brings her case and concern to Jesus and tells him that she knows he was able to save her brother from death.

She did not doubt his ability to perform that miracle of healing. She witnessed him heal many sick already and restore them to health. But here in her passage, it is obvious that Jesus missed the deadline of their need.

It came and went. Lazarus sickened and died and all hope was truly gone as they wrapped him in grave clothes and sealed the tomb and he had lain in the grave four days already. Decay had set in. It was an utterly hopeless scenario.

But listen, friends, there is no such thing as a hopeless scenario with God. There is no need too big for him. His arm is not too short to save. In their hopelessness and helplessness, Jesus eventually comes and brings transformation to their lives through his resurrection power.

God Has Not Forgotten Us

There are four things in regard to her theme which I would now like to relate. Number one, when a deadline isn't met by God in answer to her prayers, that does not mean that God has forgotten about us.

In the book of Genesis, we find Joseph cast into a prison for his refusal to give in to the seduction of Potiphar's wife. And while in prison, Joseph discerns the dreams of his two prison mates, the chief butler and the baker.

And the butler is released true to Joseph's interpretation of the dream. And Joseph says to him in all sincerity and gravity, but think on me when it shall be well with thee and show kindness. I pray thee unto me and make mention of me unto Pharaoh and bring me out of this house.

For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews. And here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. And what do we learn from reading further into the text of Genesis chapter 40 as it relates to Joseph and his predicament?

The text reads in verse 23, yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him. And at times our closest friends will forget us. And at times it will appear in our darkest trial that even God has forgotten us.

Joseph assumed that the butler would remember him and soon he'd be out of prison. But time eroded, the supposed deadline of deliverance passed. And we read in chapter 41 and verse 1, and it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed and behold, he stood by the river.

Joseph was yet incarcerated for another two dreary, desperate years. So our first lesson here, friends, is to learn that when a deadline isn't met by God and answer to our prayers, that does not mean that God has forgotten about us.

God Remains Sovereign Over the Timing

Number two, when all hope is gone and our deadline has passed and our prayers are unanswered, God is still on the throne and he will take care of his own. Did Joseph finally get his release from prison or did he rot there for the rest of his days?

God got him out when God knew it was the right time from his perspective. We must ask ourselves, what would have occurred if Joseph had been released when he wanted to be released? Surely he would have returned to the land of the Hebrews, which he loved.

He would have sought out his father, Jacob, whom he loved. But if that happened, Joseph may have faced even greater danger as his brothers found out about his release and prevented him from seeing Jacob, for it would have meant their own disharmony in their family relations when Jacob learned of the deception by his other sons.

So they may have killed Joseph to prevent their father from finding out how they had sorely treated his favorite son and then lied about it to his face. Secondly, and more importantly, had Joseph been released from prison when he wanted to be released, he would have missed the greatest opportunity in his life to be an instrument in the hands of God in the deliverance of his brethren.

He would have missed the elevation that God had in store for him in the house of Pharaoh by advancing him. Genesis 41, 41 relates, and Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

So God had a greater purpose behind the divine delay of Joseph's release from prison. And listen, dear friend, God may have a greater purpose behind the divine delay in your life at this time, behind the scenes and in the heavenly realms.

He is working out a purpose to do you good and not harm. He knows the plans he has for you, friend. In Jeremiah 29, 11, we read, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

God’s Timing Is Always Perfect

God may be working a greater purpose in your behalf, friend, which will do you good and bring him glory. Now let us see this next aspect, number three. No matter how trying your outward circumstances are and how hard the inward trial may be, remember this, God is not on our timetable but his.

You cannot place God on your timetable, friend, and demand that he meets it. You must submit to his timetable for your life, for deliverance in your life, friend, for his timing is always perfect in your life.

He brought Joseph out of prison at the right time. He caught Lazarus from the grave at the exact moment it was meant to be from God's perspective and for his glory. And remember this as well, friend, God's word is true and he is true to his word.

Trials Reveal More of God and Our Hearts

Don't ever doubt that. Stand on your Bible and trust in your God. And lastly, number four, through our trial we will experience more of God and discover more of our own heart. We will experience a deeper understanding of the attributes of God in relation to our life and we will learn more about our own wicked hearts through this trial and process.

If you are in a deep trial right now, friend, and it seems you are in a dark tunnel of seemingly hopelessness, for God has missed your deadline, remember this, God is still on the throne and he will take care of his own.

Picture yourself on a train. It's traveling through a dark tunnel. God is the engineer. Your job is to not get off the train. Stay focused on God. Keep looking at him. Lean on your savior. Stay on the train until God brings you out for there is light at the end of the tunnel.

God has your best interest at heart, friend. Let us go to him now in prayer.