“Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet, pleading fervently with Him. ‘My little daughter is dying,’ he said. ‘Please come and lay Your hands on her; heal her so she can live.’ Jesus went with Him.” (Mark 5:22-24a NLT)
There are several prayers of desperation offered in Scripture, none that shed more light on the kind of God and Savior we serve than Jairus’. If anything would grab our heart and send us to the edge mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, it would be a sick or dying child. The tenderness we feel for our children is inherited from our heavenly Father.
It speaks to me that Jesus had no hesitation, but immediately began walking with this desperate man on a journey that would end, not only in the healing of a child, but of a dad. Do you think Jairus ever looked at or spoke about Jesus in the same way? He was a leader of a local Jewish synagogue whose superiors were violently opposed to Jesus, yet he didn’t send someone to find Jesus, he RAN himself.
Would his “bosses” stand by with understanding when they learned Jairus not only invited this “outcast” to his home, he also knelt at His feet and worshipped Him in front of hundreds of onlookers? In those moments do you think Jairus really cared what they thought? He understood there was no one else who could do what he was asking Jesus to do. So, even at the risk of losing his job, he ran as fast as his feet would carry him to find Jesus, and when he did, nothing else mattered but his little girl.
A devotion by Carlos Santiago reminded me of Jairus’ story when he wrote about a time in his life and marriage when he prayed a “last resort” prayer. Carlos wrote: “I’ll never forget a conversation I had with my boss. The country was in a recession, and he offered me a choice: Travel to India for two to four months to help set up a new help desk or be laid off. My wife and 3-year-old daughter depended on my income, but they also depended on my presence. I could not imagine leaving them for so long. He gave me until Monday to give my answer. That weekend we prayed a last-resort prayer, ‘Lord, move my boss out of the way of our family, or move me to where you want me.’”
Miraculously, the boss relented and gave Carlos another position that allowed him to not have to go to India. But is that the way God generally works? See, here’s the deal, God doesn’t have a “general” way He works. The Lord takes EVERY prayer seriously and considers all possibilities before answering.
What about the desperate prayers of the parents of those children who were killed by Herod in his effort to kill the child Jesus? (See Matthew 2:16) Was sparing the life of God’s Son worth the lives of hundreds of innocent children? But though those parents had no way of knowing who Jesus was or would become, even if they’d known it would not have comforted them one tiny bit. But now, for Jairus and millions more like Him across the centuries, Jesus’ “spared” life, ultimately given in death for us, allows us the privilege of accessing His life-giving power on behalf, not only of our children, but of ourselves and others under any circumstance.
Carlos wrote: “When we pray last-resort prayers, we accept that we are powerless to change the situation, and this is good. Other times, it’s easy for us to steal the credit from God. When we’re at the end of our ropes, however, God’s hand is far more apparent.”
It’s sad that we have to get desperate to take prayer seriously. We need to recognize and learn to live in desperate need of Jesus at all times, then prayer would be first, not last.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 