NaturallyResilient

About

Matthew 9:18 starts the story of the synagogue leader who had a little girl that was not just dying but was dead! She had just died and in his panic and desperation he sought out Jesus. This was a daring act on his part as he was a leader and people looked up to him. Like famous people nowadays this man had a high up position and was in the limelight, at least in his area. Jesus had an uneasy relationship with the synagogue leaders, they were not too sure of him at this time and you might say he was under scrutiny. Maybe this was why this father did not come sooner but waited with hope that his daughter would improve. Maybe he was in denial, but then the unthinkable happened, she died. But in his panic this father knew that if any man could help, Jesus could.

Desperation is a very powerful emotion. This is the emotion that provides strength to a woman so she can lift a car off her child. Desperation is a strong emotion to put into prayer. The stronger the emotion the faster the prayer is answered. The answer may come as an idea that pops into your head like this father all of a sudden thinking of getting Jesus or it may actually cause something to materialize (the item may have always been there but you may not have ever noticed it before).

Desperation can cause us to act in ways we would not normally act. When desperate, we may appear to act irrationally which is what the mourners at the girls house thought of the father’s actions. They ridiculed him when he came back with Jesus. The girl was dead, they knew what death looked like. During this timeframe and society people were quite familiar with death. But desperation causes irrational acts, it causes people to take chances and sometimes those risks pay off.