Dear Colleagues,
I wonder if you have ever been in a situation where you get bad news followed by worse news, much like Job experienced losing his livestock, servants, his children and then his health in quick succession!
Of the “righteous man”, Psalm 112 has the following to say: “He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” Easy to say or write but a very different matter to do!
Jairus , the ruler of the synagogue has much to teach us when it comes to having faith in tough times!
We read in Mark’s gospel that his daughter was sick to the point of death. Despite the cynicism and out-right hostility that many of his colleagues displayed towards Jesus, Jairus was amazed by this man who could calm storms, command evil spirits to leave people and heal diseases. Finding Jesus was no problem as His exploits were on the lips of everyone. When Jairus found Jesus returning from the region of the Gerasenes, He was, as usual, surrounded by a vast throng. Not put off by this, he ran to Jesus, fell on his knees and pleaded with Him. He cuts to the chase immediately – “My little daughter is dying. Please, put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live”. Despite the demands of the crowd with its press-ing needy people we read of Jesus’s response to Jairus: “So Jesus went with him.”
What do we learn from this?
Firstly, we do not get the impression that Jesus felt interrupted. Taking care of Jairus’s daughter was part of His agenda for that day. Growing the faith of Jairus was also part of that agenda, as we can see from the events which followed. A lady, who had been haemorrhaging for 12 years and who was at her wits end, touched his garment and immediately brought proceedings to a halt. With no sense of rush or urgen-cy, Jesus, gave His undivided attention to another individual! We can just imagine how Jairus must have felt at this stage. When he left his daughter she was almost dead. And now this delay would surely prove very costly to him. As if to confirm his feelings some men from his house arrived and told him, “Your daughter is dead, why bother the teacher anymore?” From a bad situation Jairus’s problem has just moved to worst-case scenario. His daughter had died! If we were reading the account for the first time we would probably feel the same – it’s too late to fix this! I find what happens next most instructive. The narrative, instead of switching to Jairus, keeps its focus on Jesus and what Jesus does in this clash be-tween light and darkness. “Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe.’”
There is much bad news out there today, right now, inviting us to believe it. It’s on our phones, in the newspapers we read, on the lips of our friends, on countless screens – everywhere! And what is its mes-sage? It is simple.
There is No Hope… No hope… No hope… No hope!
What is the solution: IGNORE THESE MESSAGES! TAKE GOD’S WORD AT FACE VALUE! TRUST WHAT HE SAYS,“DON’T BE AFRAID; JUST BELIEVE”
Scripture says that we are transformed “by the renewing of our minds.” This is so important we need to pause for a few moments and ask ourselves if the problems we have living in this country at this time in our history are because we have let them enter our minds and rob us of our peace?!
The solution is to believe God’s Word instead of our feelings. We may feel very afraid or discouraged, but the truth is that God is with us and He is sovereign over the affairs of men, and He has told us not to be afraid. Which are we going to listen to – the feelings or the Word
K.M. Ricquebourg
ACSI Zimbabwe Coordinator
Leave a Reply