Jesus was on time for His next Divine appointment.  This was the first of three occasions when He raised the dead (Luke 8:40-56; John 11:1-44).  After a day's walk south-west from Capernaum, He approached Nain in a joyful procession with His disciples and many others.  Just then, another large procession was coming out of the town.  The unmistakable sound of wailing announced the funeral.  Was this a rather embarrassing accident of timing - what would Jesus do?  Surely, He was too late to help.

The sense of tragedy unfolded as it became clear that the woman next to the coffin was a widow, accompanying the body of her only son to the burial site.  She had lost everything, and now had nobody to support her or provide for her old age.  But Jesus was full of compassion (Psalm 116:5).  He felt her pain and was visibly grieved by the woman's hopelessness, even though He had arrived specifically to meet her need.  By saying, ‘Don’t cry’, the Master was not offering a meaningless platitude to crush the cultural habit of loud weeping.  He wanted her eyes to be dry so that she could see what He was about to do - bringing her son back to life.  It was a parable of the joy of heaven (Revelation 21:4).

We are often so consumed with our own lives, that we cannot see how the Lord wants to work in our circumstances.  We may be favoured with large crowds of supporters, but often we are alone, even in the crowd.  Hopelessness easily overtakes us as our little worlds implode.  But that is because we are not expecting the Lord to be there, be concerned, be powerful or be on time (Psalm 31:15).  We may know comforting Scriptures but fail to believe that God is in control.

Faithlessness allows Satan to hook us onto misery as he pulls us into despair.  But faith says the truth is that Jesus is here.  He does care, He is powerful, and He knows just the right time to express His authority.  His comfort is real because it announces the release of His power and joy in the future.  Those who trust in Him have no need to be limited by the little horizons of failure and disaster.  Family crises, workplace nightmares, relationship disasters, financial impossibilities and even death all find their answer in Christ.  The Jesus who said, "Don't cry", has the power to bring His answer in His time (Psalm 86:7).