Jairus is in a hurry. If you have children, or even if you don’t, you can probably sympathize with his plight. You see, his little daughter is dying. Or, as the Message paraphrase puts it, his “dear daughter is at death’s door.” Mark 5:23
So you can imagine why he’d be more than a little perturbed when, the Lord tarries on the way to Jairus’ house. “Who touched my clothes?” Jesus suddenly asks the crowd. The disciples, perhaps a bit anxious themselves given the gravity of the situation, reply “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask? Who touched me?’” Then Jesus proceeds to leisurely engage the woman in conversation. It turns out that she’s suffered from a medical condition for the last twelve years.
“Twelve years?” thinks Jairus, “My daughter is dying! Surely this woman can wait a little longer!”
Then, while Jesus is still talking with the woman, messengers arrive with the most dreaded news imaginable: “Your daughter is dead.”
“Oh Lord, why couldn’t you just have hurried?” Jairus probably cried to himself. From a human perspective, all was lost. But from a heavenly perspective, “all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27) Jesus responded immediately: “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (Mark 5:36)
God’s timing is not ours: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8) But we can be confident that whenever and however God chooses to respond to us, it will be good, just, and to His glory.
If you’ve been patiently praying with seemingly no response, don’t lose heart. Jesus implores us to not be afraid and trust in Him; consider the parable of the persistent widow Jesus told in Luke 18:1-8, which Jesus told to encourage us that we “should always pray and not give up“. Be encouraged that while God’s timing is not ours, because He is always for you, not against you, and we will someday, at just the right moment, fully understand His divine timing.
Questions: What is a prayer that you have been earnestly praying for lately? Are you ready to leave it in God’s competent hands when/how/if he answers it?
