Dealing with Delays, Denial, Death, and Disease

Anywhere in life that's you're having to wait for something is typically hard.

I don't know about you.

I don't like waiting.

I hate waiting in line at a restaurant, uh, much less anything more important than that.

Is there anything in your life right now that you're praying for?

Maybe you're longing for, but it's not coming, and you're having to wait.

And maybe part of the question you're saying, whether it's out louder in your mind, is God, this is a good thing that I'm praying for.

Why wouldn't you answer it?

And why wouldn't you answer it fast, lickety split?

Why the waiting?

Waiting is a big part of the Christian life.

It's a big part of life period, whether you're a Christian or not.

You know, there are oftentimes in the Old Testament that talks about wait upon the Lord.

And sometimes we're like, man, that sounds really deep and philosophical.

I wonder exactly what that means.

And a lot of times it just literally means wait.

We don't like to wait.

And why would God make us wait?

We're gonna look at a text that really addresses this, I think, this morning.

Remember the context from two weeks ago?

Jesus has been across the lake, saving, healing this crazy demon-possessed man.

He comes back across the lake to the Jewish side, to the religious side.

And let's pick up in verse 21.

And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea.

Then came of the rulers of the synagogue Jarus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, 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.

And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.

And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse.

She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment, for she said, If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.

And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments?

And his disciples said to him, You see the crowd pressing around you?

And yet you say, Who touched me?

And he looked around to see who had done it.

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, Your daughter is dead.

Why trouble the teacher any further?

But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not fear, only believe.

And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James.

And they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.

And when he had entered, he said to them, Why are you making a commotion and weeping?

Child is not dead but sleeping.

And they laughed at him.

But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was, taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha kume, which means, little girl, I say to you, arise.

And immediately the girl got up and began walking, for she was twelve years of age, and they were immediately overcome with amazement, and he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and he told them to give her something to eat.

So Jesus gets back, and immediately one of the rulers of the synagogue.

This would be like an elder in our church.

He would have been very prominent in that society.

He would be very high-ranking.

Runs to Jesus, humbles himself, falls before him, and begs him and says, Hey, please come to my house.

Luke's gospel tells us he only had one child, his only daughter.

I've got my child.

She's sick.

She's on the verge of death, I can tell, but I believe.

If you come, you can heal her.

And Jesus says, Okay, I'll go with you.

He's walking, and the crowd is pressing around him.

Like seems to be happening all the time now.

They're going with them.

And as Jesus is walking, there's this woman that has a discharge of blood.

Now, this is going to be slightly awkward, but it's in the Bible, so we're going to talk about it, okay?

In the Old Testament, you had ritual purity laws.

The Mosaic law had this ceremonial law.

And this is weird, but it's helpful to understand.

You could be ceremonially unclean, and that didn't mean that you were especially sinful.

You could get ceremonially unclean for all sorts of things, just like touching a dead body.

So if a family member died and you're grieving and you put your hands on the dead body, you're ceremonially unclean.

Doesn't mean that you've sinned, but what it did mean is you couldn't go to temple and worship for a certain amount of time.

Now, why would God do that?

He was, it was things like touching a dead body that were proof of we live in a fallen, broken world.

That even our best days, we're touched by the sinfulness around us and inside of us.

And that God is so high and so holy that there ought to be a lot of preparation to come to worship God.

And there's supposed to be the separation, the perfection of God.

And then us, these broken, fallen people living in a sinful, broken world.

Does that make sense?

Okay?

So, not sinful to be unclean, and yet you couldn't go to worship.

And one of the things that could make you unclean was a woman's menstrual cycle.

Now, this woman has had a flow of blood for 12 straight years.

I just want you to think with me for a second how inconvenient, how awkward, and not just the physical pain, suffering, but in that society, if you're a devout Jew and you want to go to temple and worship, the ostracism that would come, the isolation, the loneliness, the feeling of being an outcast, of being like a leper, essentially.

And here was the thing: any bed that she would sleep on, any chair that she would sit on, that also became unclean.

And anybody that would touch her or touch her bed or touch her chair, they would become unclean.

So anybody that knew about this would probably have tried to stay away from her like the plague, literally.

And it says that she had spent all of her money trying to get well, and it hadn't gotten better, it had actually gotten worse.

So now she's broke on top of all this.

She can't go to church, and she's probably ostracized by almost everybody that she knows.

But she hears about Jesus.

And I want you to try to imagine her.

And the physical pain, the psychological torment, what's wrong with me?

Why is this happening to me?

We ask ourselves questions like that when we have suffering, right?

Even if it's something we were born with.

I didn't choose this, I didn't do anything to get this.

Why?

Why is this happening to me?

This doesn't seem fair.

But she sneaks up behind Jesus and she's just thinking, you know what?

I think if I can just even touch his clothes, I don't even have to touch his body.

And she's terrified.

Why?

Because probably she had consulted with rabbis, with religious religious leaders before, and almost certainly they've been like, hey, don't get close to me.

Because they're very passionate about their religious purity.

And Jesus, at this time, is known as this great rabbi and teacher.

She sneaks up behind him, she touches his clothes, and instantly she's totally healed.

She can feel it.

She knows I'm changed.

There had to be a flood of joy, but also a moment of terror because instantly Jesus stops and says, Who touched me?

This is such a beautiful picture of this mystery that Jesus Christ is 100% God.

You just touch his clothes in faith and you get healed.

It's pretty amazing, isn't it?

The power goes out.

He can feel the power go out of him.

It took something out of him.

And yet he's 100% man.

He's like, somebody just got a miracle.

Who was it?

And you can see the disciples, right?

Especially Peter with foot and mouth disease.

I mean, it's kind of like, are you serious, Jesus?

Who's touching you?

Everybody's touching you.

What do you mean?

And Jesus just kind of ignores them, looks around, and it says, the woman comes forward, fearful, trembling, she falls down, she tells the whole story publicly.

She's not embarrassed anymore.

Now, I don't know about you, but even as I was reading this and studying it and even teaching it right now, it's like you get mesmerized for a second.

Well, what's happening with this woman?

You totally forget the synagogue ruler for a second, don't you?

Oh yeah.

Now think about him.

Up until this point, all that we know of all the synagogue leaders and rulers, they hated Jesus.

We don't know for sure, but it's highly likely maybe this guy had too.

But he gets to where, hey, my only baby girl is dying.

I don't care anymore.

I'll ask anybody for help.

And he finds Jesus.

That would have been hard enough.

And he says, Will you come?

And Jesus says, Yes.

He's got to be thinking, hallelujah.

And they're going through the crowd, he's leading the way.

And then this woman comes.

And we don't know what he was thinking.

He didn't say anything, but I'm sure he's trying to put myself in his shoes.

He had to be thinking, I know who this woman is.

She's bugged me before.

She's had a problem for 12 years.

She can wait one more day, one more hour.

And then it's like, Jesus, she's already healed, actually.

Jesus, you don't have to talk to her.

Let's and then a servant comes and says, Hey, your baby's dead.

I'm sorry.

Leave the teacher alone.

I wonder what he was thinking in that moment.

We don't know because Jesus didn't give him a chance to respond.

He said, Don't worry about it.

I got this.

Trust me.

They keep going, they get to the house, crazy commotion.

Back then, a lot of times you would pay professional mourners, even if you were a poor person, come in to have flutes and scream and yell.

I just I hesitate to share this, but I will.

I wonder how many of you have ever been to a funeral of somebody, and they're not sure about where their loved one that has died is going.

I've been to a couple at least.

Some are silent.

Some are pretty normal.

There's some kind of hope, even if it's misplaced.

But I've been at least one where there was weeping and wailing and praying out loud for the dead, and it's a pretty terrifying thing.

And Jesus walks into this chaos, kind of nonchalant.

Hey, what's the big deal?

She's taking a nap.

And they they laugh at him, they mock him.

And listen, they're not necessarily being mean or sarcastic at this point, but here's the thing, guys.

They were a lot more familiar with death than we are.

You didn't have doctors' offices per se.

You didn't have hospitals.

You didn't have nursing homes.

You typically, I mean, you had doctors, they came to the house, though.

They made house calls, and it was like, end of life is like the person's there with you.

So they were pretty familiar with death.

They understood the way death worked.

They'd been watching this girl go downhill, go downhill, go downhill until finally he got so desperate, I'll go get Jesus.

It's too late, she's dead.

They knew she was dead.

Jesus kicks everybody out.

He only takes his three main disciples.

He walks in, mom and dad.

He takes her hand and he speaks in Aramaic, which was the common language of Jews in that day.

And he basically it's like he says, Hey, little girl, sweetie, wake up.

And she pops up like nothing's wrong, gets up, starts walking around the room.

And I love this.

I mean, it's just again, Jesus says, Hey, don't tell anybody, which I mean, it's like it's impossible.

What do you mean don't tell anybody?

Everybody's gonna know.

And then the practicality's like, she's probably hungry.

Get her something to eat.

Let desperation drive you to Jesus.

That's point one.

We're all gonna suffer in this life.

Life is gonna humble us at times.

Pain, hardship will never leave you the same.

It's either gonna drive you away from God, or Tim Keller says it can drive you like a nail into the heart of God.

Let hardship and pain and suffering drive you closer to God.

Second thing.

In the long run, your social standing in life doesn't really matter.

You can be the richest, most high standing, prominent, famous person in the room, or you can be the lowest, most obscure, nobody.

And at some level, it doesn't really matter.

Pain and suffering is gonna get you one day.

And it's gonna humble you one day.

And on that day, the only thing that will really essentially matter is what's my relationship with Jesus Christ.

Because you will run into problems that bank accounts, the friends you know, the titles you have, all that won't matter.

Life has a way of breaking us all eventually.

Build your walk with Christ now so when the pain and hardship comes, you're ready.

The foundation is there.

Thirdly, when you are struggling, pray earnestly, pray boldly, pray without caution, pray desperately.

I mean, how much did the leader of the synagogue have to humble himself to publicly go to Jesus, probably in front of a crowd of thousands?

It's like, hey, this is the guy we're against, and fall down before him and say, I'm begging you, come help me with my daughter.

Tons of humility.

And how much boldness did this outcast woman who's been put off by every other rabbi and religious leader say, I don't care.

I'm gonna try to sneak up behind Jesus and touch him.

The best prayers, guys, they're bold and they're humble.

They essentially say, I deserve nothing good from you, God, and yet I'm asking for everything.

That's a good prayer life.

I love Luke chapter 11, and there's a parable in there, you know, of the what I call the friend at midnight that goes next door to get some bread, and there's two phrases.

Luke 11 · chapter mention

I think it's Luke 11, 6 and Luke 11.8.

But one thing that he says when he's beating on the door is, I have nothing to set before them.

You ever feel that way in life?

I have nothing to set before my kids.

I have nothing to set before my spouse.

I have nothing to set before my employees or these people I'm trying to minute.

I have nothing in and of myself.

And then verse 8 says, and yet he will rise and give him everything that he needs.

We ought to go to God with this humble sense of, I got nothing, God, if you don't show up.

And yet I have total confidence that you have everything and you will rise and give me whatever I actually need.

James 2, uh 4-2 said, You don't have because you don't ask.

Fourth thing, this can be an easy one to skip, but listen, Jesus cares about your physical needs.

Our spiritual needs are more important than our physical needs.

When you're praying, you should pray first about thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

But then you can pray and you should pray about, Lord, I need daily bread, daily money, daily physical health.

Jesus cares about physical, tangible stuff.

You can ask him about anything, no matter how small it seems, no matter how silly it seems.

God cares about your pets, things like that.

Philippians 4 says, in all things by prayer.

There's nothing too big and there's nothing too small that you can't pray about.

Fifth thing, Jesus is filled with pity and with power.

He's merciful and he's mighty.

He's strong and he's kind.

He's the lion and he's the lamb.

What good is he if he's got 100% pity and compassion, but he didn't have any power and might.

And what good of a savior would he be if he had all the power in the world, but he didn't care about us.

But that he has both 100%.

All power in the world.

He sees, he knows, he hears, and he cares.

The sixth thing.

Jesus always gives his people what is best for them.

Robert Myrrh McShane, Scottish pastor a long time ago, said this: God will either give you what you ask or something far better.

Listen, that's just Romans 8.28, guys.

Whatever you're praying for, you're gonna get exactly that if you're a Christian, or you're gonna get something better.

There are no other options.

God works all things together for the good of those who love him.

Do we really believe it?

That is the second greatest truth in all the world.

Seven.

God's timing is always best.

God's timing is usually not our timing.

Have you experienced that in life?

God's timing is often longer than our timing.

Right?

The struggles I'm having in life are not like God.

You just keep answering my prayers too quick, you know?

Before I even finish my prayer time, you just answered me, God.

I just I wish you'd slow down a bit.

Is that where you're struggling?

God's timing is often longer than ours, but God's timing is always perfect.

Always perfect.

And our greatest enemy, death, is no match for Jesus.

It's kind of like those religious ceremonial impurity laws.

All the other rabbis, don't touch me, I don't want to get unclean.

I gotta go to church on Sunday.

Thing with Jesus was it worked the reverse.

Nobody could make him unclean.

He touched you, you got clean, you got healed, you got saved, you got fixed.

Death for all of us, there is a finality about it.

I mean, there's something very serious and so even for the Christian, it's like, man, that I know what I believe, and yet there's this veil and it's a wall, and it's sad, and I have to leave loved ones online.

And guys, even for like an atheist, there's a fear of death if they're being honest, because if nothing else, the party's over in their worldview.

But for Jesus, I mean, death is literally like a nap.

It's nothing.

Piece of cake.

Now I said earlier, you know, the synagogue ruler, the woman, I mean, they're opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum.

They're opposite ends of the religious spectrum.

They both came to Jesus with a need.

They both got what they want instantly.

Kind of.

The synagogue ruler didn't exactly get what he wanted, did he?

I mean, what he wanted was a healing.

Please heal my daughter before she dies.

He didn't get that.

He got something better.

Sometimes the Lord will make us wait and suffer, but it's always for our best.

Woman named Joyce Baldwin said this God's delays are not denials.

Sometimes God will make us wait.

Don't interpret that as God necessarily.

Saying no.

He may be making you wait.

In one sense, death was nothing for Jesus.

Physical death, certainly nothing for Jesus.

Wake up, honey.

But in the Garden of Gethsemane, what we start to see is that spiritual death was something for Jesus.

Jesus in his humanity, looking to the abyss of what he was going to have to suffer for his people, said, I don't want to do it.

Is there any other way, Father?

Not my will but thine.

I'm submitted, but I am pleading with you.

I mean, it was a bold prayer and it was a humble prayer.

It was earnest.

He was imploring him.

Is there any other way?

Certainly there must be.

And God the Father didn't give him what he was asking for to get out of the cross.

But there's a real sense in which God the Father gave him something even better.

Go to the cross, go through the cross, conquer death, hell, and grave, and save all your people.

Our salvation was costly, just like this healing.

This woman touches, she gets healed, and Jesus said, Something went out for me.

He felt it.

The cross took something out of Jesus.

It was costly.

Our salvation is costly, guys.

We never need to get bored and numb with what our Savior has done.

And remember that when we're having to wait, when we're suffering.

And we're asking God typically two questions.

Why is this happening to me?

And how much longer?

Aren't those the two questions we ask the most in suffering?

Why is this happening?

And how much longer do I have to suffer?

And guys, when Jesus was stretched on the cross and he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

I think that part of what he was thinking and feeling in his humanity was, how much longer do I have to hang here and take this?

He joined us in our sufferings.

And he conquered them.

I have often thought about the followers of Jesus that made it all the way to the cross, like John and Mary.

They put all their hope in this man.

We think he's the Messiah.

We think he's the king, son of God.

Surely something's about to happen, a mere deliverance.

And he hangs his head and he's dead.

What do you think they thought and felt in that moment?

Depressed, shocked, confused, flabbergasted.

I mean, I how could this be God's best?

There's no way this could be God's best.

They only had to wait a couple days before it's like, oh, oh, now I see.

Now I get it.

What God was doing was infinitely bigger and better than what I could have even ever dreamt or imagined standing there in the midst of the suffering.

And guys, that's God's calling card.

That's the way he always works for his people.

He turns tragedies into triumphs.

And we need to remember the cross and remember the resurrection and whatever you're going through, whatever I'm going through, I just remind myself of that.

I don't get it now, I don't like it now.

I don't understand how much longer it's gonna last, and it's painful, and I don't like it, but I trust you, God.

I trust you that you're working all things together for my good.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we do love you.

We are in all.

You are seemingly too good to be true.

Father, I pray whatever it is that we are struggling with this morning, whatever it is in the back of our heart that we are earnestly praying for, whether it's for physical healing for ourselves or somebody else, whether it's for salvation for a loved one who's far from you, whether it's for a sin struggle that we're so sick of, I pray that you would minister grace to us and give us confidence that you are with us in the storm, that you are working, that we can wait, that we can trust, that you are strong and kind, you are merciful and mighty, you are full of power and of pity.

We pray all this in Christ's name.

Amen.