FBC Daily Devotional – April 15, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, April 15th, Thursday, April 15th, normally this would be tax day, but I guess, thanks to COVID, you get a reprieve if you haven't already filed your taxes and dealt with that.

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Some of you, if you were getting a refund, probably dealt with that a long time ago. I know,

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I know I did. I just figured it was no sense, no sense having Uncle Sam have that money any longer than he absolutely has to.

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Well, that's just my opinion on the matter. Well, anyway, have you ever had a child that was,

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I mean, really seriously ill? Like seriously ill? I remember when our son was just a couple of years old,

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I can't remember exactly how old he was, but probably maybe three, but he had just gotten a round of vaccinations.

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And right after he got those vaccinations, his fever spiked.

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I mean, he had a seriously high fever and we were very, very concerned about it.

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In fact, he got to be so high and we were so worried about him that we took him to the emergency room to the hospital.

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And that was a little bit of a driveway. It wasn't like an hour or anything, but it was far enough away that it was a long drive, that 10 minutes or 15 minutes to the hospital.

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And we got in the hospital and had to have some IV fluids or something like that. I can't remember what all happened, but I just remember the sense of urgency and panic.

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Well, you read a dad who knows what that urgency and panic is like in today's reading in Mark chapter five, and you can just sense his earnestness, can't you?

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Jairus comes running to Jesus and he is burdened because his daughter is sick and she's about to die.

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She's at death's door. But Jairus knows if Jesus can just get there before she dies, that he could heal her.

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He could, if he could just get there. So he comes to Jesus and he pleads with Jesus.

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Would you please come and heal my daughter? She's at the point of death. And Jesus agrees.

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And so Jairus begins the journey, leading Jesus back to his home. Now, we don't know how far that was.

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I don't imagine it was all that far, but there they are. They're in this procession, leading

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Jesus back to Jairus' house. And then comes the interruption. Some woman who has had a chronic condition for a dozen years comes up to Jesus and quietly, surreptitiously touches his cloak and she's miraculously healed.

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Now, at that point, she didn't really do anything to hinder Jesus from going on his way.

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She just touched his cloak. I'm sure other people did too. When Jesus asked about it, the disciples asserted that, well,

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Jesus, you're in a crowd. A lot of people touched your cloak. What do you mean, who touched your cloak? But Jesus stopped nevertheless.

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Can you imagine the frustration on the part of Jairus right now? Wait a minute, what's going on? Why are we stopping?

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And Jesus says, who touched my cloak? Again, think about Jairus and his response to all of this.

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Jesus stops the processional to ask who touched his cloak. And then when the woman finally confesses, he's taking precious time to interview her.

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Time is ticking by. The sand is coming through the hourglass and the girl's life is ebbing away.

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She could die if he doesn't get there. I want you to notice something that in verse 34,

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Mark tells us that Jesus addresses her, this woman with the issue of blood, as daughter.

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He said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

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And remember, of whom is Jairus concerned? His daughter, his daughter.

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So at the end of the interview, the word arrives to Jairus. Your daughter has died.

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Don't trouble the master any longer. Your daughter has died. All right, now pause there.

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Pause there and feel that for a moment. Can you imagine the frustration arising in Jairus' heart?

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The, if only, the potential anger? If only this woman hadn't interrupted,

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Jesus could have saved her. And yet, how does

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Jesus respond? Jesus responds by reassuring Jairus, encouraging him, encouraging him, listen, encouraging him to have the same faith for his daughter's welfare that the nameless daughter had.

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So we don't know the name of that woman that was healed of her issue of blood. We don't know what her name was, but the

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Lord commends her for her faith. Her faith has made her whole. And now Jesus encourages

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Jairus to have the same faith for his daughter that this nameless daughter had as well.

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And as they go on to Jairus' house, he takes

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Jairus and a couple of his disciples into where the dead daughter is lying in state.

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And he demonstrates that there really is nothing that interrupts him from his saving purposes.

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He takes the daughter by her hand and while she is sleeping, and he simply says to her, little girl,

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I say to you, arise. And she arises.

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Her life is restored to her once again. Immediately, the girl got up and began walking, the text tells us.

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Nothing could save or could interrupt Jesus from his saving purposes.

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And there's another interesting little detail about this, that this seems like making her come back to life was the big thing.

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First, healing her was the big thing. And making her come back to life was the big thing that Jesus needed to be concerned with.

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And of course he was, and he took care of that need. But then did you pick up what

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Jesus said next? Give the girl something to eat. Certainly she's hungry.

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Now there's one other little detail that I'd like to point out here. How old was this girl when she died?

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The text tells us that she was 12 years of age. Remember how long that woman, that nameless daughter, remember how long she'd had her infirmity?

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As long as that little girl had been alive for 12 years. Now, I don't know what all the significance of that is.

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The 12 years, the daughter of Israel who had her infirmity for 12 years and Jesus healed her.

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This daughter of Jairus in her 12th year, her life expires and Jesus heals her, restores her to life.

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Well, one thing's important. One thing's clear, that nothing, nothing, nothing interrupts

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Jesus from his saving purposes. Whether the purpose is to deal with a 12 year chronic illness or to raise a 12 year old girl from life threatening death, infirmity, raise her from death.

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Nothing, nothing interrupts him from his purposes. And you know what?

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That's still true today. Nothing interrupts Jesus from his purposes, from his saving purposes.

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He will save his own. Our father and our God, we are so grateful today for the sovereignty and the omniscience of our

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Lord Jesus and his omnipotence. And thank you that there is nothing that can hinder him.

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Nothing can frustrate him. Even though there are things that seem to frustrate us and get us in a tizzy, nothing frustrates him.

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We're so grateful for that truth today. Encourage us with it, we pray. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

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All right, well, have a good Thursday, the rest of your Thursday, and I hope the Lord will bless you in it.