"So" what?

"Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was" (John 11:5-6).

It must be a typo. Mary and Martha were probably waiting impatiently for Jesus to get there and heal their brother. If Jesus really loved them, he would have rushed to Lazarus and made him better. He wouldn't have let him die; he wouldn't have let Mary and Martha go through the grief of losing their brother. It should say "he loved them... but when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he had to stay two days longer even though he tried his best to get to Lazarus immediately."

Not only is it not a typo, but it also tells me a lot about my own relationship with Jesus. The "so" is important because it tells me that Jesus knew what he was doing, and he knew what was best. His love isn't separate from his delay in going to them; it's the cause behind it.

How often do I doubt God's love because I don't understand his timing?

And yet, here is a reminder that we don't need to understand; we just need to trust. I just need to trust-- "Now Jesus loved Anne Davies, so he waited to answer her prayer..." Jesus doesn't do things by accident. He doesn't make us wait because he doesn't have time to help us. He makes us wait because he loves us and has a better plan for us than we could have come up with on our own-- because he loves us more deeply than we can imagine or even begin to understand.