“And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.” (Lk 8:41-42).
Words cannot, adequately, describe the pain Jairus felt with each passing moment that he was aware could be his daughter’s last one on earth. Every parent knows the agony of watching his or her child writhe in the torment of sickness, to say nothing of dying. The information that reached him about Jesus and His healing ministry had inspired hope in him. Therefore, he ran to Jesus and fell at His feet pleading with Jesus to follow him to his house and heal his dying daughter. Hope is such an important quality that, without it, it is impossible to pull through any difficulty. Given the reputation of Jesus as a healer with verifiable testimonies, it is no wonder that Jairus, though a religious elite, humbled himself enough to beg for a cure for his daughter’s ailment from a man with comparatively little ecclesiastical pedigree.
Hope (the expectation of something desired), in as much as it is important, is not the same thing as faith. Hope looks forward to the future, while faith is now. Faith is the basis of hope. The Greek word translated into English as ‘substance’ is ‘hupostasis’ and means that upon which something stands. Therefore, where the Bible says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1), it means that faith is the foundation upon which we can hope for things from God. This implies that to hope for things without faith (which is a heartfelt conviction based on a personal revelation from the Holy Spirit), amounts to wishful thinking or presumption. For Jairus, his hope to see his daughter’s health restored, became an expectation of something that was certain to happen, when his desperate plea received a favourable response from Jesus. He, then, had the assurance that his daughter would be healed.
This is where well-meaning but misguided Christians miss it sometimes. It is true that, “…all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2Cor 1:20), and that, “… he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2Pet 1:4). However, the Holy Spirit has to quicken and apply these promises to you, before they can inspire genuine faith in you for the things you hope, based on the promises. Faith is not a product of human effort or struggle, but of God’s mercy. That was why Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you. Everything that the Father has is Mine. That is what I meant when I said that He [the Spirit] will take the things that are Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.” (Jn 16:14-15).
Faith begins when God’s will concerning an issue is revealed. That was why Paul said, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and ASKING GOD TO FILL YOU WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL THROUGH ALL SPIRITUAL WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING.” (Col 1:9 NIV) (emphasis mine). It is one thing to know God’s will for you in your head, and an entirely different thing to know it in your heart. Revelation produces the later kind of knowledge. What you know by mere intellectual wisdom and understanding will not produce genuine faith. Spiritual wisdom and understanding do not share the same origin with mere intellectual reasoning. This does not mean the human intellect is useless. No, it has its place. However, Paul goes on, “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,” (Col 1:10 NIV).
Do you desire to live a life worthy of the Lord, and to please Him in every way? It will not happen just because you hope it does. The answer is in your seeking to know God’s will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding, and then acting on that revelatory knowledge. This is the only way to possess faith, without which it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). The result will be your bearing fruit in every good work, and growing in the knowledge of God. Shalom.
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