Don't be afraid!

I was reading Mark chapter 5 this week and had to share my thoughts about it. Verse 21 starts the story out by talking about Jairus who pleaded with Jesus to go to his daughter who was at the point of death. He asks Jesus to come and lay hands on the girl. So they walk along and in the middle of this a woman with an issue of blood gets healed.

As Jesus finishes up with the woman, someone came from Jairus's house and said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?"

As soon as Jesus heard the word, he said to Jairus, "Do not be afraid, only believe."

Jesus then allowed a few people to follow him to the house to see the girl. There's more to this story, which includes the daughter being made alive and whole, but I want to stop there.

It was interesting that Jesus did not stop the bad report from coming to Jairus. I mean, he's Jesus, he surely knew it was coming. He could have stopped those people if he wanted to, right? He didn't stop them. So Jairus heard that his daughter was dead. His people encouraged him to give up and leave Jesus alone.

Jesus responded only to Jairus. He did not refute the report. He told him not to be afraid & only believe.

I found it interesting that Jesus first spoke to be him about his fear. Jairus hadn't yet had a response yet but Jesus probably knew that a parent would naturally fear for their child.

Jairus is now faced with a choice. He can freak out because his daughter is dead or he can believe in the words of Jesus and keep it together.

The next thing I took away was that Jesus had Jairus walk away from those people who gave him the bad report. They did not speak faith and Jesus had to separate Jairus from them.

I have had my fair share of bad and evil reports about my own daughter in the past 6 years:

• Your daughter has asthma. She'll have breathing problems.
• She will need a surgery to fix this.
• If you don't do this procedure, there is a risk that she will die.
• Her immune system is weak. She's going to get sick easy.

Whenever I hear something bad about my darling little girl, I have a tendancy to get upset and let my fears take over. Jesus doesn't want me to react like that. He wants me to be positive, believe in Him, and separate myself from unbelief (whatever form it may take). This is a big challenge for me. After so many bad, scary health problems, it is easier for me to believe something bad is going to happen than something good. Yet, God wants faith to rise up in these moments. Too often I wonder why the bad event is occuring in the first place and get stuck in a pity party. I think Jaycee should never get a bad report. But things happen that challenge our faith. God is always the response in situations that we find challenging. Belief in Him and His word is always the answer and is the ultimate truth. Now, don't be afriad!