A few days ago, I opened a news app on my phone. I read of a heartbreaking incident in Vancouver, Canada. A man had driven a car at high speed through a crowd of people. There were fatalities and many injuries. Unfortunately, it is not the first incident where someone has used a car as a weapon in this way.

The story weighed upon me, along with the coverage of the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. I also read of the depressing economic forecasts, the problems in the NHS, and other senseless acts of violence. I felt extremely saddened and overwhelmed.

I thought about some troubling situations our family and friends are facing; the struggles of special needs parenting; the difficulties my autistic daughter experiences every day; and all the many things that need doing around the house and the garden despite the lack of time and spare cash to do them.

It’s a lot.

In life there is a lot to overwhelm us and make us weary; things that can even make us hopeless, if we let them.

I felt helpless and hopeless, so I did the only thing I know to do as a Christian—I knelt to pray. I cried to God and told Him that I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand why things had to be so hard. I didn’t understand why people did such wicked things or why He was waiting so long to intervene in this world.

Gently I was reminded that He has intervened once, by sending His only Son to bear our sin debt on the cross. While He walked the earth Jesus repeatedly demonstrated His love and compassion on the poor, the sick, and the oppressed. He entered our broken world and experienced rejection, suffering and pain. He brought healing and hope to people. His teachings made the world a better place than it was before. In love He laid His life down, and in victory He rose from the dead. He also promised to come again.

When? How long? How bad do things have to get?

I have a theological answer to this question: The truth that God is being gracious in giving people more time to repent (turn from their sins to Him).

If I’m honest, at times that answer still doesn’t satisfy me. In Romans 8:18-23 we read about how all creation is groaning and waiting for redemption. That describes how I feel at times in this broken world. I long for a better world; for a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness reigns.

God has promised that this will happen. I’m impatient for it. I want it now. And yet I must wait.

This morning, I opened my Bible to read The Gospel of John, chapter 11. Christians will be familiar with the passage which tells a true story about a man named Lazarus. He was a good friend of Jesus and had two sisters called Mary and Martha. In the story Lazarus became sick. Jesus was sent for, but He didn’t go to his friends straight away. He had other things He needed to do first, and He had a bigger plan.

When Jesus finally arrived at Bethany, where the family lived, Lazarus had been dead and buried for four days already. Martha came to meet Jesus and cried out to him: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus responded: “Your brother will rise again.” Martha thought Jesus was speaking of the resurrection in end times, but he wasn’t.

Later in the story, after weeping with Mary and Martha, Jesus asked to be taken to the tomb. Many mourners followed them so there was a crowd of people to witness what happened next. Jesus asked for the stone to be rolled away from the tomb but he was warned there would be a nasty smell. Jesus responded, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

They rolled the stone away and “he [Jesus] cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The crowd gasped as Lazarus slowly shuffled out, bound with grave clothes, and his face wrapped with a cloth.

After this sign, many of the Jews who had seen what had happened believed in Jesus. Word came to the Pharisees and from that point they made plans to put him to death. They were jealous of Jesus’ following.

My point in sharing the story is this: Mary and Martha had to wait, in order that a greater miracle might be done. Rather than just going straightaway and healing a sick man (as Jesus had done many times already), He had plans to do something far greater—raise a man from the dead!

Mary and Martha’s job was to trust Jesus when they didn’t understand. That is what Christians must do today, as we wait for Him to show His glory and healing hand again to a broken world.

As I meditated on these Scriptures, my attention was drawn to the lyrics of a hymn which seems appropriate to share below:

I Set My Hope

When this life of trials test my faith,
I set my hope on Jesus,
When the questions come and doubts remain,
I set my hope on Jesus,
For the deepest wounds that time won’t heal,
There’s a joy that runs still deeper,
There’s a truth that’s more than all I feel,
I set my hope on Jesus,

I set my hope on Jesus,
My rock, my only trust,
Who set His heart upon me first,
I set my hope on Jesus,

Though I falter in this war with sin,
I set my hope on Jesus,
When I fail the fight and sink within,
I set my hope on Jesus,
Though the shame would drown me in its sea,
And I dread the waves of justice,
I will cast my life on Calvary,
I set my hope on Jesus,

I set my hope on Jesus,
My rock, my only trust,
Who set His heart upon me first,
I set my hope on Jesus,

Though the world called me to leave my Lord,
I set my hope on Jesus,
Though it offer all its vain rewards,
I set my hope on Jesus,
Though this heart of mine is prone to stray,
Give me grace enough to finish,
‘Til I worship on that final day,
I set my hope on Jesus,

I set my hope on Jesus,
My rock, my only trust,
Who set His heart upon me first,
I set my hope on Jesus,

I set my hope on Jesus,
My rock, my only trust,
Who set His heart upon me first,
I set my hope on Jesus,

I set my hope on Jesus,

Written by Keith Getty, Matt Boswell, and Matt Papa