O Me of Little Faith

Right now in our Home fellowship group, we are studying through the gospel of John.  We just got through the beginning of chapter 11 where Jesus raises Lazarus.
 One thing that stood out to me was in verses 5 and 6 it says, "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was."
At first glance, I would think if Jesus loved them so much, then why did he not go right away to heal Lazarus?!  He actually delayed His coming instead.
 The first reason for His delay is that He loved them.  I think of this as kind of a "tough love". When we are going through great trials, and we cry out to God to rescue us out of it and plead with Him to take it away, sometimes He allows it to keep going and even get worse.  This is because of His great love for us and seeing the bigger picture, that it will strengthen our faith in Him and bring us closer to Him.  If He would have stopped the trial when we wanted it to end, our faith may not have grown as much and we would have missed out on the blessing of being closer to Christ.  Just look back and think on past trials you have gone through and how much closer you are to the Lord because of it.  Our faith also is greatly increased by those trials, as you can now say, "He's been faithful to me before, He will be faithful again".
 Another reason Christ delayed His coming to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus is found in vs. 4: "He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it." Everything is ultimately for His glory! So as the storms of this life come crashing in, may we remember that He is sovereign over it all, even down to the smallest detail and He may delay the end of our sufferings for now, but in His perfect time He will command the winds and the waves, "Hush, be still."