In Luke 8, Jairus is coming to Jesus to ask for healing for his daughter who is dying. If you remember the story, there was a significant pause enroute to Jairus’ house because of the woman with the issue of blood. You can imagine how anxious this made Jairus when Jesus stopped to deal with this woman. I’m sure he was worried that Jesus wouldn’t make it to his house before his daughter died.
In fact, that’s exactly what happened. She died while Jesus was speaking to the woman that had touched His garment. As Jesus was ending His conversation with the woman who was healed, a messenger brought word that Jairus’ daughter had died. Jesus immediately told Jairus in verse 50, “Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.” And as you may know, He did raise her from the dead.
There are two things I was reminded of as I read this story.
First is that we should trust God beyond our human understanding. The limit of our human understanding causes a great amount of anxiety and worry in our lives that can be avoided if we trust God in all things. Jesus showed us in this story how much we can trust Him. Even beyond life and death.
There are many, many areas in our lives in which we fail to trust Him. Even in small things, we often create anxiety that could be avoided if we were to allow Him to handle things that we cannot.
I learned from Jennifer Skaw in her Diving Deep Bible Study to stand on the truth of God’s Word in this area of my life. When we don’t take God at His Word and trust what He says He will do for us, our anxiety and worry is like telling God He’s a liar. There are countless verses in His Word that tell how He will meet our every need. Instead, when worry comes, we can give our worries to God and trust Him to control everything with our best interest in mind.
Secondly, I was reminded not to allow small inconveniences to prevent us from ministering to someone. Jesus stopped to minister to the woman when a 12-year-old girl’s life was on the line! When I read this, I was reminded of the small ways I show love to others in my life. A simple hello and a few questions to let someone know you care about them. I chose this as a personal ministry because when I first came to my current church, I had just come through the heart-rending experience of my husband leaving pastoring and leaving behind many people whom we cared for deeply. This experience was like feeling a hundred deaths at once. I was so lonely and hurt and a lady in our church, Mrs. Rose Farley, blessed me so much when she simply reached out to say hello to me.
Recently, I found that I was putting my physical needs over the opportunity to minister to people and often missing the chance. There’s a small amount of time before and after church services to say hello to someone, and the restroom or the drinking fountain will still be there after they’ve left. I know this may seem ridiculous to some, but I found myself needing to reprioritize a little. Believers are instructed in I John 4 to be kind, tenderhearted, and loving to one another. Everyone in your church family is important. For that reason and that I had made this my personal ministry for God, I had to reprioritize a little.
If Jesus can “inconvenience” himself enough to stop and find out who touched Him while on His way to save someone from dying, we can allow inconveniences in our lives to minister as well. He stopped because that woman mattered to Him. No matter how small or great the inconvenience, people are more important. I want to trust God more, beyond my human limitations and beyond my understanding. I want to put away fear and believe in God’s ability to care for all things.
