But God
- fccreative
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
When All Hope Is Gone, But God Steps In
Mark 5 brings Jairus to Jesus with a time sensitive miracle. His little girl is at the point of death, but not past it, so natural hope is still alive. Jairus risks his reputation as a ruler of the synagogue, falls at the feet of the one his crowd has been fighting, and begs for help. Jesus gives five beautiful words: “So Jesus went with him.”
The text turns when the messenger comes from the house and says, “Your little daughter is dead. Why trouble the master any further?” Natural hope has a shelf life, and death steals every human answer. But Jesus hears the same report and speaks first: “Do not be afraid, only believe.” Those two little words, “but God,” become the hinge where everything going one way suddenly turns the other way.
Jairus shows that a child of God must believe God wants to help. Jesus does not lecture him, make him grovel, or bring up what the synagogue rulers had done. God is “a very present help in trouble,” and the throne of grace is open even when mercy is needed. God wants to heal, deliver, restore, forgive, and pull people out.
The woman with the issue of blood shows that God can be touched. She has been defined by her issue for twelve years, cut off from family, broke from doctors, and worn down in body and mind. Yet she hears about “the Jesus,” presses through the crowd, and touches the hem of His garment. She touches Him with pain, and He touches her back with power.
Her faith is not passive. Her mouth keeps saying, “If I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Her heart holds on to the word from Micah, that the Son of righteousness would arise with healing in His wings. Her ears receive the right Jesus, not a twisted version that destroys faith, but the Jesus who opens blind eyes and heals all oppressed of the devil.
The delay is not a denial. Jesus lets Jairus hear the woman’s whole story because that testimony builds the faith Jairus will need when death is declared final. Her “for me” miracle becomes a “through me” miracle. God does something for her, and God does something through her.
Jairus also sows the right seed. The ruler who could punish the unclean woman restrains his power and gives mercy while his daughter lies dead. Then Jesus shrinks the circle, puts ridicule outside, calls the dead child sleeping, and takes her by the hand. “Talitha Kumai” becomes the word Jairus needed all along: little girl wrapped in healing wings, arise. Faith does its part, but only God raises the dead.
Key Takeaways
1. God wants to help anyway
Jairus had every reason to think Jesus might refuse him, because his circle had resisted and accused Jesus. But Jesus does not make him pay a religious penalty before mercy comes near. Grace is not God pretending sin and pride never happened, but God inviting the desperate to come boldly anyway and receive help in time of need.
2. Touching Jesus requires holy determination
The woman with the issue of blood does not merely bump into Jesus with the crowd. Her faith presses through shame, weakness, law, and exhaustion because preference never draws power the way desperation does. The issue may have defined her publicly, but her reach toward Christ becomes the place where a new identity breaks in.
3. The mouth steers the miracle
The woman keeps saying, “If I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well,” and those words keep moving her toward Jesus. Speech does not replace faith, but it gives faith direction when obstacles start shouting louder than promise. A mouth filled with the word of God becomes a rudder that turns the whole life toward obedience and expectation.
4. Delays can develop faith
Jairus experiences the woman’s interruption as a problem, but Jesus uses that delay as preparation. The testimony Jairus hears on the road becomes the word he needs in the house. God’s timing may feel like loss in the moment, yet the delay may be building the exact faith needed for the next command: “Only believe.”
5. Faith trusts God’s part
Jairus can fall at Jesus’ feet, follow Him home, restrain judgment, and believe the word. Jairus cannot raise the dead. Faith is not a human attempt to do what only God can do, but a surrendered obedience that does its part and trusts God to release resurrection power.
Bible Study Guide
Bible Reading Mark 5:21-43
“Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.’ So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.
Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, ‘If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.’ Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My clothes?’ But His disciples said to Him, ‘You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, “Who touched Me?”’ And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came 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 affliction.’
While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?’ As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not be afraid, only believe.’ And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, ‘Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.’ And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, ‘Talitha, cumi,’ which is translated, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.’ Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement.”
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Micah 4:2 “Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”
Observation questions
In Mark 5, what details show how desperate Jairus was before Jesus ever reached his house?
What obstacles are named in the story of the woman with the issue of blood, and what does she keep saying as she moves toward Jesus?
What happens in the story between the woman’s healing and Jesus arriving at Jairus’ house, and who is allowed to go with Him after the bad report comes?
In the house of Jairus, what does Jesus do with the crowd, what does He say about the child, and what happens when He takes her by the hand?
Interpretation questions
Jairus comes from a circle that had reason to resist Jesus, yet Jesus goes with him anyway. What does that suggest about the heart of God toward people who come to Him in real need?
The woman does not merely brush past Jesus in a crowd; she touches Him in faith. What is the difference between being around Jesus and truly reaching for Him?
Jesus allows Jairus to hear the woman tell the whole truth before the message comes that his daughter has died. How might that interruption have prepared Jairus to hear, “Do not be afraid, only believe”?
Jairus can fall at Jesus’ feet, follow Him home, and believe His word, but he cannot raise the dead. What does that show about the difference between a believer’s responsibility and God’s responsibility in a crisis?
Application questions
When trouble hits, many voices say, “Why trouble the Master any further?” What kind of report, fear, or disappointment has been speaking loudly lately, and what would it look like to answer it with “only believe”?
God wants people to come boldly for help, even when mercy is needed. Is there any area where shame, regret, or pride has been keeping someone from coming honestly to God? What would boldness look like this week?
The woman kept saying, “If I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” What has been coming out of the mouth lately in a hard season—faith, defeat, anger, numbness, or something else? What would it look like to begin speaking in line with God’s word instead?
Faith holds on to a word from God like a person guarding something precious. What promise of Scripture needs to be held onto right now, and what tries to steal it most quickly?
Not every delay is a denial. Looking back, has there been a season where something felt late, but God was building strength, clarity, or faith through the wait?
Sometimes the room has to be protected and the circle has to get smaller. Are there voices, influences, or patterns that make faith weaker in this season? What might need to be put outside the room?
Faith does its part and trusts God for what only He can do. What is one situation right now where personal effort has reached its limit, and where surrender, obedience, and trust need to take over?
Devotional
Day 1: When Twelve Years of Bleeding Meet One Touch
The woman pressed through a crowd of doubters, her trembling hand stretching toward frayed fabric. Twelve years of isolation ended when her fingers brushed the tassels of Jesus’ prayer shawl. Her healing wasn’t casual contact—it was faith-fueled determination. Jesus stopped mid-mission for this unnamed woman, proving no one is too broken for His notice. Her story whispers: your longest struggle is no match for one moment with Him.
“For she said, ‘If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.’ Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.”
(Mark 5:28-29, NKJV)
Reflection: What “crowd” of doubts or obstacles have you allowed to delay your reach toward Jesus? Name one practical step you’ll take this week to press through.
Day 2: Desperate Daddies and Deathbed Promises
Jairus abandoned religious protocol to faceplant at a controversial rabbi’s feet. His daughter’s fading breath stripped away pride, position, and propriety. When death’s finality seemed to cancel hope, Jesus rerouted the story with four words: “Don’t fear—just believe.” Crisis becomes a classroom where we learn God’s help isn’t earned—it’s received by raw dependence.
“And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.’”
(Mark 5:22-23, NKJV)
Reflection: Where have you substituted religious performance for reckless trust? How might “falling at Jesus’ feet” look in your current crisis?
Day 3: Divine Delays and Double Miracles
A dying girl’s timeline collided with a bleeding woman’s breakthrough. What felt like a disastrous delay to Jairus was actually divine choreography. Jesus used an interruption to build unshakable faith before the greater miracle. Our frustration with God’s timing often blinds us to His preparation—He’s engineering testimonies while we’re counting seconds.
“Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
(James 1:3-4, NKJV)
Reflection: What “delay” in your life might God be using to strengthen your faith for a greater work? How can you shift from counting time to trusting His timing?
Day 4: Seed-Sowing in the Soil of Suffering
Jairus faced a costly choice—enforce religious rules against an “unclean” woman or show mercy. His restraint became seed for resurrection. Every act of grace during our pain plants harvests we can’t yet see. The synagogue ruler learned: miracles grow best in soil tilled by sacrificial love.
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”
(Galatians 6:7-8, NKJV)
Reflection: What seed of kindness, forgiveness, or generosity is God asking you to plant amid your current struggle? How does this act of faith confront your fear of scarcity?
Day 5: Surrender’s Symphony—When We Conduct Nothing
Jairus’ story crescendos with powerless trust—a father watching a rabbi grip his daughter’s corpse. True faith isn’t our ability to perform miracles, but to witness them. Surrender whispers: “I’ll handle the believing; You handle the doing.” The moment we release control, God’s “Talitha cumi” resurrects dead places.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
(Proverbs 3:5-6, NKJV)
Reflection: What situation have you been trying to “fix” that God is asking you to fully release? How might obedience look different than understanding in this season?
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