Just Believe....

Just Believe

liz etheridge

Right out of college, I went to live with my sister and her husband while I looked for a job. It was winter and we had decided to head to Oklahoma for a day of shopping. I know...that part of the story doesn't even make sense....shopping = Oklahoma??...I know. As we were heading home that night, it started to snow....like blizzard snow and you could barely see the unfamiliar country roads ahead of us. I was scared to death....and not being a particularly active prayer warrior at that time in my life, I started negotiating with God in the backseat of that AMC Spirit my brother-in-law was driving. I promised Him I would pay tithe for the rest of my life....without fail.....if He would rescue us from this scary mess we were in.

He did...I didn't.

Have you ever found yourself negotiating with God....bartering with Him when you get in a pickle....."Lord, if You get me out of this mess I'm in, I promise to go to church every-single-Sunday-without-fail-and-sometimes-on-Wednesday-too"?

When I read the story of the dude named Jairus in Mark 5, I couldn't help wondering if I would have started the negotiation process had I been in his shoes. Jairus was a very important man, the head-honcho of his church at the time.....which is like the mayor, principal and pope all rolled into one.....and he was desperate. Desperate enough he could have offered the temple key to Jesus in return for healing his daughter.....

But he came to Jesus, much like a poor, blind man standing on the corner begging for a gift:

“My little daughter is at the point of death.

Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” (Mark 5:23)

He doesn't barter or try to negotiate with Jesus. He doesn't haggle and remind Jesus how important a man he is. He just pleads. A scared, desperate father pleading for the life of his daughter just as you or I would do. And Jesus says to him, "Don't be afraid, Just Believe."

JUST-BELIEVE. 

 Two simple words that brought life to a 12-year old girl.....

and brings life to you and I when we JUST BELIEVE.

Maybe....just maybe....Jesus' reason for raising this sweet little girl from the dead wasn't for her sake - but for our sake now - to teach us that heaven sees when we Trust and Believe.