Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Wait on God | Learning to Follow Jesus | Luke 8.41-56

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. Right now, we're learning what it looks like to follow Jesus by working our way through the Gospel of Luke. If you were married to me, you would know that I use one phrase way too much. In a minute, I'm the kind of person who wants to stay focused on what I'm focused on. So if someone interrupts me, I inevitably finding myself saying to my daughter, to my wife, to others, in a minute.

Starting point is 00:00:36 But when I say in a minute, it really can range from about 60 seconds to 30 minutes. Have you ever felt like God saying, in a minute, to you? Like you're asking for help on something? Maybe even something good. God, help me fight this sin. God, give me the strength we need to get through this sickness. God, please heal my child. Please heal me, this person I love.

Starting point is 00:00:58 And it seems like God's attention is elsewhere. It's like he's taking his time. It's like he's saying, yeah, I hear you in a minute. That has to be how Gyrus felt with Jesus. We read his story in Luke 841. Then a man named Gyrus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about 12, was dying. Now, Jesus agrees, but on his way, he's interrupted by a woman who's been experiencing

Starting point is 00:01:28 nonstop menstrual bleeding for 12 years. She touches him and she's healed, and Jesus stops this big long parade that's going to Jairus's house to talk with her. And it's an unhurried moment of tenderness. But we can only imagine how Gyrus felt with his daughter on her deathbed. He's probably thinking this woman's been sick for 12 years. She can wait. My daughter only has moments left. He desperately needs Jesus to act, but it seems like Jesus is saying to Jiris, in a minute, Jiris, you can wait. We pick up story in verse 49. While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. Your daughter is dead, he said. Don't bother the teacher anymore. There are only a few of us here

Starting point is 00:02:15 who have actually experienced this moment when God's in a minute turns into the end of a story. A life lost, a job lost, a home lost, a friendship lost. Verse 50 continues. Hearing this, Jesus said to Jiris, Don't be afraid. Just believe and she will be healed. When he arrived at the house of Jiris, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, and James, and the child's father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. Stop wailing, Jesus said. She's not dead, but asleep. They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead, but he took her by the hand and said, my child, get up. Her spirit returned, and at once she said, she said, stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished,

Starting point is 00:03:06 but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. A few months ago, a story made headlines. A huge church in California was praying for God to resurrect a little two-year-old girl. Unlike Jairus's daughter, this little girl stayed in the grave. She died. And of course, this church praying begged the question for a lot of Christians. When God told Jiris, in a minute, just hold on, he really meant it with Jiris. Jesus was actually going to go to the house. He was going to set things right. Jiris just had to wait, and then his daughter would be back with him. But what about the rest of us? What about when in a minute becomes, I'm sorry, but the answer is no. And there's no hope that things are going to be made right. That lost loved ones, well, they're not going to be brought back to life. What happens when those losses

Starting point is 00:03:56 aren't things that God retrieves and recovers, but simply become lifelong setbacks, lifelong hurts. Well, the answer is actually right in the passage, and the answer is resurrection. Okay, that's kind of a weird thing to say, so what does that mean? Well, I don't think it was a mistake that Jesus' one more minute led to the death of Gyrus' daughter. Nor do I think it's a mistake that Jesus' answer to Gyrus' needy prayer

Starting point is 00:04:22 was ultimately resurrection. Why? because resurrection is the ultimate and final answer to all problems. You see, there are times in this life when God does heal, when God does overturn losses, when God does provide the very things that we long for, but those are always only pen ultimate answers. They're second place answers. They're not the ultimate answers. They're not the final answer. Because in the end, the one who is healed will die. In the end, that was the case for Jiris in his family. One day his daughter did, die. That was only the pen ultimate answer. It was the second place answer. It wasn't the final answer.

Starting point is 00:04:59 In the end, we will lose everything. In the end, we will die. In the end, we'll leave everything behind. And so while God's answers to our prayers in the present may be welcomed as gifts, they are far from the final answer. They're far from actually setting the world right. They're far from making things right. We need an ultimate answer. We need an ultimate way that God will actually set things right in the world. Overturn evil, right every wrong, defeat death, and sickness, put a broken and disordered creation back into joint. We need an ultimate answer. And do you know what God's ultimate answer to that question is? It's resurrection. That's our ultimate hope, that God will raise the dead, that he'll judge evil and that he'll rescue those whom he has made right with himself.

Starting point is 00:05:45 Our ultimate hope is that we will be raised into unending life on a renewed earth where sin and death no longer reign, but God's spirit and love are all in all. When God says in a minute to us, he may mean 60 seconds, or he may mean 60 years, or he may mean not in this life. But whatever answer he gives, that's only in the short term. Because when God says in a minute, what he ultimately always means is resurrection. That's the ultimate answer. Okay, so what's this mean for today? It means that we keep praying and we receive whatever God gives us in this life as a gift pointing towards that ultimate hope. It means that alongside every prayer of longing is also a prayer of hope.

Starting point is 00:06:30 God, do it in your own time, but do it swiftly. Return to us. Set the world right. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with? Texting an episode to a friend or a family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Wait on God | Learning to Follow Jesus | Luke 8.41-56

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