“Your daughter is dead, there is no use troubling the Teacher now”.

The above line is from a text in mark 5: 22 -42, which talks about the story of a man named Jairus, who was a leader in the local synagogue. Jarius daughter was very sick, so he came to Jesus to ask for help. One of the first things I noticed reading this is that this man did the right thing by going to Jesus for help, and you know what, in the process, his daughter got worse and died.

Does this feel close to home? Do you feel like sometimes you do everything right and things still go wrong? The worst part is that people in the process come to tell you what you should have done without realising you already did everything.

Don’t always see things not working as a sign that you are doing something wrong because sometimes you could cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s and things still look like they are falling apart, like they are going from bad to worst. If you find yourself in a situation like that, rather than condemn yourself or listen to critics, just remember to stay standing and stay focused.

Ephesians 6:13-14 NKJV
Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

In the passage in Mark 5, Jairus goes to Jesus, about his daughter, and Jesus agreed to come with him. Now, according to human perspective, one thing Jairus didn’t have much of was time due to the condition of his daughter , so when another incident happened which infringed on Jairus’ time, it could have been seen as the work of the devil yet on the contrary, that time which seemed wasted was actually valuable for someone else who received their miracle as a result of Jesus passing that way. It may have looked like Jairus agenda was disrupted  but it wasn’t.

Notice that in all of this, Jairus never left Jesus’ side. His mission of involving Jesus in his matter was his only priority so when the people came to inform him that his situation had gone from bad to worse, they were not just being good neighbours with news, they were bringing a report of fear so Jesus countered their words by saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe”.

When you are in a place where things are physically falling apart, the natural tendency would be to fear. Fear operates with our physical senses and our minds. Your eyes see something dreadful and sends a message to your brain and your mind starts conjuring worse case scenarios, or you hear a report that sounds bad, and your brain starts to tell you it is all over even though it was just some news.

So, Jesus, knowing this, turns Jairus’ attention from the physical by saying to him, “Do not be afraid, only believe, believe what?” Believe the word of God. It was the word that drew Jairus to Jesus in the first place. He must have heard Jesus speak and see those words work miracles. So, Jesus brought his attention back to the word… ‘only believe’.

Notice that from that point, Jesus only allowed people who didn’t operate in fear around Jairus, until they got to his house and even at Jairus’ house, Jesus was quick to get rid of everyone who only saw the situation, physically. The solution to the problem was not different to what it would have been if Jesus had arrived earlier while she was still sick, Jesus simply took her hand and commanded her to wake up. The dead situation received an immediate change, not a gradual one. The girl rose up immediately and walked.

Staying the course is so important even when it looks like things are not working. Sometimes, we are tempted to change strategies as we may feel like we are not doing enough, but be mindful that your strategy changing is not taking you off course but rather reenforcing your present course. If you stay the course long enough, you will experience results. 

Every blessing
Kingdom