for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him. And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. (Luke 8:42-44 NASB)
Jairus had an emergency. That's all you could call it. His only daughter was dying and wouldn't last long. He had finally had the courage to come to Jesus, and the Master was on His way, but if they didn't hurry, it would be too late! He knew she would not last long. How frightening it must have been to see the crowd pressing in on Jesus. They would surely slow them down. "We are not going to make it!" he must have feared. Jairus probably wanted to howl in frustration and push people away.
Jesus, however, would not be hurried. Every person along His path mattered to Him. Before they reached Jairus' house, He would stop for someone else in need, seemingly delaying the miracle Jairus longed to see, and making the healing of his daughter increasingly more unlikely.
God's timing is never ours, is it? We want Him to intervene now, to make our situation better now, to ease the suffering now. Because God is omnipresent in time, the same yesterday, today, and forever, He operates on eternal time, not mortal time. What seems like a delay to us may be just another opportunity for God to demonstrate His great mercy, His great power. Sometimes, the delay is designed to teach us patience, waiting, faith, none of which can be learned by instant intervention.
There are times, however, when God is orchestrating a solution so finely tuned that delay is needed to bring about a greater result, to bring Him greater glory. Those times are always worth the wait, but oh how difficult that waiting can seem! That's the kind of waiting Jairus had, and it was terrible to him. His daughter's life, his greatly loved daughter's life, hung by a slender thread and time was running out.
Are you waiting for divine intervention? Does it seem that God is slow in answering your prayers, in meeting your need? Peter was writing about the second coming of Christ, but his words are equally applicable here.
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9 NASB)
He has a plan. It is for good and not evil. He will not be thwarted. Trust Him, no matter how long it takes.
Pray today that we and our loved ones would wait for God to move rather than trying to take matters into our own hands. Pray that we would wait for God's perfect provision.
-------
Link to last night's tiny post: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/08/haiku-1.html
-------
Please continue to pray about the terrorists and for them, protection for the persecuted church, and those who are at great risk on a daily basis.
No comments:
Post a Comment