What do you do when everyone expects you to move fast? But God says, wait. Today, let's look at why Jesus waited and why Great leaders, they don't always rush. I'm Chris Moore, and this is Leading 10, the devotional that helps you lead like Jesus in a world that runs on urgency. In John chapter 11, Jesus receives urgent news, Lazarus, his close friend is sick, deathly sick. Now imagine being one of his disciples. You've seen Jesus heal total strangers and now. It's personal. This is someone that Jesus loves. Surely he will act immediately, but verse six stops us in our tracks. When he had heard, therefore that he was sick, he had bowed two days still in the same place where he was. Wait, I. He, he stayed, he doesn't rush. He doesn't panic. He waits. And during that wait, Lazarus, his friend, Jesus's friend dies. You know, we've talked in one of our other episodes about, uh, the interruption. But this isn't an interruption. This is something important. This is, this is Lazarus, his friend. You know, in leadership, we're trained to equate action with effectiveness, move quickly, solve immediately, don't let people down. But Jesus shows us that Godly leadership requires more than just fast reflexes. It requires discernment of timing. Now, Jesus was not ignoring the problem. He was aligning with something greater, a divine moment that would display God's glory more powerfully than a quick fix ever could. When he finally arrives in Bethany, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. The grief, it's heavy. Mary and Martha both come to him and say, Lord, if you had been here, he wouldn't have died. What's interesting is, as we'll see later, Jesus didn't even really have to be there. He could have heal Lazarus from afar. He didn't even have to move. He could have done it right then, but he waited. Why? I mean, Mary and Martha are saying if you had been here, he wouldn't have died, and they're right. Jesus could have healed him, but he had something even bigger in mind. He raises Lazarus from the dead. This was a show of even greater power that aligned with what Jesus was here to show and do and to prove. The delay wasn't denial. It was a setup for something that was going to be even greater. Okay. Imagine a business owner watching a top employee struggle. People on the team are pressuring for action. You know, you hear those words, Hey, we need to let them go. We can't afford this dip in our performance. But the leader waits. He prays, he checks in, he sees potential, maybe offers a little coaching, instead of that pink slip that everybody's anxious to give to him, and months later, that struggling employee becomes the highest performing leader in the company. Because someone had the courage not to react fast, but to wait with purpose. Jesus wasn't lazy. He was laser focused on purpose over pressure. There's a lesson here for us as Christian leaders. Not every delay is a failure. Sometimes it's divine fast action. It might solve some short term issues, but. What you end up missing is that long-term impact. Some of your most powerful leadership moves might start with just staying still and not sprinting forward. We see that all the time. We see billion dollar companies that struggled for years. Before getting their footing. We see that on, TV shows throughout history. People have put out TV shows. Nobody watched it yet. They were given time to grow. They became some of the biggest hits, those hits that are still playing in reruns 20, 30, 40, 50 years after. It's not, we'll give them a single pilot and see how this works, or we'll do six shows and then we'll kill 'em if they don't have. A viewership. No. People have to have time to grow into what they are going to ultimately be. So where are you feeling pressure to act immediately? Maybe it's a tough hire that you're just having a hard time finding the right person. Maybe there's a major decision that needs to be made, a pivot that your business is considering. Maybe it's a response to a conflict that's internal to your team. The pressure is real, but before you act, you need to pause. You need to ask yourself if I being led by the spirit or driven by other people's expectations. You know, peer pressure doesn't end just because we turn 18 or or 26 or 30 or 50 or 60. You need to invite God into your timing. You might find he's preparing something bigger than what your quick solution can deliver. So I want you to identify one area where you are tempted to rush, and before taking that next step, I want you to pray. Lord, I want your timing more than my solution. Show me when to move and when to wait. That's a powerful prayer and it's a hard one because there's a lot of in-between, between God's timing and when you want your solution, but you have to trust him with the in-between. If this devotional encourage you to wait on God's timing, please share it with someone. Act on it. And remember, you don't even have to act fast, but you do need to act and remember, Jesus didn't panic. He didn't rush. He didn't miss his moment. Thanks for joining me on Lead In 10 Till next time, lead with peace, lead with Purpose, and lead with God's timeline. I'll see you next time.