06292024 Too Late

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God who does all things well. (He does, doesn’t He?) Last week I focused on God’s last-minute rescues, when He steps in just before everything collapses. But God doesn’t always do that.

What about the times when God is too late? It’s a trick question. God is never too late. Sometimes it appears that way to the human eye, however.

A few examples come quickly to mind. In Mark 5, Jairus was greatly burdened for his young daughter, who was at the point of death. He believed Jesus could save her life. But with the time spent in travel and the interruption of another healing, it became too late. Messengers arrived on the scene, reporting, “Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?” (v. 35).

Peter had great power for healing during the early days of the church. Even as he healed people nearby, Dorcas became very sick. The disciples knew Peter was close, and they sent messengers, “desiring him that he would not delay to come to them” (Acts 9:38). But when Peter arrived, Dorcas was dead, and the mourners had gathered.

Perhaps the most poignant story is that of Lazarus, both because Jesus loved Lazarus so much and also because everyone involved came to the same conclusion. The messengers had come, but Jesus waited. Finally, “when Jesus came, he found that [Lazarus] had lain in the grave four days already” (John 11:17).

What did everyone conclude? Martha said it: “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (v. 21). Mary said it: “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (v. 32). Some of the Jews said it: “Could not this man … have caused that even this man should not have died?” (v. 37).

They all knew it. Jesus was too late! Except He wasn’t. For Lazarus, as for Dorcas and for Jairus’ daughter, it was not too late. Each of those three was miraculously raised from the dead. Even though the situations had seemed hopeless – irreparable – God still had a plan and a solution.

That is the important issue, that God still had a plan, even in apparent hopelessness. While miraculous resurrections are not likely in our day, it remains true that God has a plan, even when it seems that all is lost. Even in Jesus’ day, not everyone who died was resurrected, not even among true followers of God. But in each death (or other final disaster) for which God was “too late,” there was a purpose and plan, and that remains true today.

Will we always know what that plan is? Certainly not. Can we trust God that there is one? By His grace, yes. We can rest assured – confident! – that if God withholds His rescue until it is too late, there is something grander and more significant that He is accomplishing.

What was God doing in the story of Jairus’ daughter? We have this commentary: “And they were astonished with a great astonishment” (Mark 4:42). Specifically, it was the parents who were astonished (Luke 8:56). My assumption is that Jairus already believed Jesus could do wonders before the “too late” experience, but afterward, both Jairus and his wife became true believers.

What about with Dorcas? The story spread, “and many believed in the Lord” (Acts 9:42).

I think the best answer is found in the story of Lazarus. Jesus Himself told the purpose for waiting until it was “too late.” He explained, “This sickness is … for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 11:4).

The glory of God! Is that not what we desire to happen through our lives? Through our victories, successes, and deliverances? Well, then, why not desire the same outcome through our defeats, failures, and destructions? Can we not trust God to bring glory to Himself through what doesn’t go well?

One of the most poignant illustrations in modern times happened on January 8, 1956. God was “too late” to rescue Jim Elliott and his four companions. Why did God not rescue these missionaries who were reaching out into new territory? Part of the answer remains unknown, except to God. In Through Gates of Splendor, Elisabeth Elliott confesses, “For us widows the question as to why the men who had trusted God to be both shield and defender should be allowed to be speared to death was not one that could be smoothly or finally answered in 1956, nor yet silenced in 1996.”

Yet we do know that the story of Elliot, Saint, McCully, Fleming, and Youderian greatly impacted the Christian world, both at the time and in successive decades. It is believed that in the immediate aftermath, those inspired to missionary service numbered in the hundreds. Those who rose up after these five men were able to reach the tribe, including the very ones who killed the missionaries. Elisabeth wrote dozens of books, influencing and inspiring millions of Christians.

Undoubtedly, we cannot know all that God accomplished through that “too late” tragedy. Just as certainly, we can proclaim that God received glory through it – glory on earth, glory in heaven, glory in the immediate, glory in the eternal.

Can God not do the same through our difficulties? Certainly not because of who we are in our weakness, but because of who He is in His greatness. What a motto to cling to: “In my life, Lord, be glorified.” Or, as Paul stated, “So now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death” (Philippians 1:20). Yes, Lord. If You can glorify Yourself in my life, though it be in difficulty and tragedy, even in “too late” scenarios that I never understand, then be glorified.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA