John 11:5
God’s Delays
These two things appear to be inconsistent with each other, that Christ remains two days beyond Jordan, as if he did not care about the life of Lazarus, and yet the Evangelist says that Christ loved him and his sisters; for, since love produces anxiety, he ought to have hastened immediately. As Christ is the only mirror of the grace of God, we are taught by this delay on his part that we ought not to judge of the love of God from the condition which we see before our eyes. When we have prayed to him, he often delays his assistance, either that he may increase still more our ardor in prayer, or that he may exercise our patience and, at the same time, accustom us to obedience.
Let believers then implore the assistance of God, but let them also learn to suspend their desires if he does not stretch out his hand for their assistance as soon as they may think that necessity requires. For whatever may be his delay, he never sleeps, and never forgets his people. Yet let us also be fully assured that he wishes all whom he loves to be saved.
Readings taken from Day by Day With John Calvin
God’s Delays
These two things appear to be inconsistent with each other, that Christ remains two days beyond Jordan, as if he did not care about the life of Lazarus, and yet the Evangelist says that Christ loved him and his sisters; for, since love produces anxiety, he ought to have hastened immediately. As Christ is the only mirror of the grace of God, we are taught by this delay on his part that we ought not to judge of the love of God from the condition which we see before our eyes. When we have prayed to him, he often delays his assistance, either that he may increase still more our ardor in prayer, or that he may exercise our patience and, at the same time, accustom us to obedience.
Let believers then implore the assistance of God, but let them also learn to suspend their desires if he does not stretch out his hand for their assistance as soon as they may think that necessity requires. For whatever may be his delay, he never sleeps, and never forgets his people. Yet let us also be fully assured that he wishes all whom he loves to be saved.
Readings taken from Day by Day With John Calvin
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