Hosanna Restoration Church

How many times have you read this and thought that would be easier said than done? Or maybe you have thought it should be no problem since Jesus was right there and the man had already witnessed other miracles so it would be easy enough to just do what the Lord was telling him. If a person was reading this for the first time, they might think, “it is to bad that Jesus was distracted by the other people along the way. If He would have just taken care of the little girl first, she probably would have lived.” Or “why didn’t He just do it like He did other times and speak the word so the man could just go home and find her well?” Jesus did it the way he did simply because that was what His Father wanted.

It is so easy for us to plan how we want God to do things for us, for others, and in others for that matter. I wonder why it is so difficult for us to trust Him to get it done in a way other than we have planned. The man wanted his daughter healed, and she was. Jesus never lost sight of what the man asked. I don’t believe He ever loses sight of what we ask either. All of the things that Jesus has ever done should increase our belief that He can and will do more. It was not insensitive of Jesus to tell the man not to be afraid, just as it is not wrong for us to encourage one another in the same way. I know that some people are actually offended when someone dares to tell them just to trust Jesus. This man could have just given up when his messengers came and said it was to late. He could have become angry with Jesus, the woman, and the whole crowd for that matter, because they kept Jesus from taking care of his problem. But Jesus gave him a word of assurance and the man received it. Because the man received that word, he received the miracle. If he had taken off and felt sorry for himself and given in to all of his fears, he would have had funeral for his little girl instead of a revival at his home.

Let’s face it, things do not always turn out the way we want them to and we have a hard time figuring out why. Still, we will never go wrong if we just trust Jesus. The first thing Jesus told the man was not to be afraid. Why? Because fear opens the door to the lies of the enemy. If we refuse to fear and choose to fight instead, we open the door to victory. Fear focuses our faith on outside evidence rather than on the word of God. Fear causes us to look at what is wrong and as we focus on fear, it becomes clearer and larger and we become more convinced that nothing will help. Not even God.

No matter what the circumstance, we must fight off the fear. We must put on the armor of God so we can stand against that evil tool of the devil. If we can just continue to say to ourselves and to all who come with other reports that we are trusting Jesus, we will see the tide turn in our lives and the light come shining through. The storms can be stilled by a word from the Lord. Life will return and we will celebrate. If only we will be determined not to fear.