Trust – What Does It Even Mean?

This morning I was listening to my Bible app and it read Luke 8 to me. This chapter stood out to me in a different way this morning.

The Chapter begins with Jesus healing a possessed man. Then Jesus is begged by Jairus to save his daughter. Then on the way to Jairus’ home the bleeding woman touched Jesus and was healed. Along the way Jairus’ daughter dies and someone says Jesus isn’t needed anymore since she died. Jesus still goes to Jairus’ home and brings her back to life.

A verse in the Message translation stood out:

“Jesus overheard and said, “Don’t be upset. Just trust me and everything will be all right.” Going into the house, he wouldn’t let anyone enter with him except Peter, John, James, and the child’s parents.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭8:50-51‬ ‭MSG‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/97/luk.8.50-51.MSG

How do you feel when your world is crashing around you and someone says to trust them?

Is it easy? No.

How do you feel when you have 10 things to do and only have time for 5, but then someone says to trust them.

Can you?

We live in a word where trust is earned. We don’t give it out freely like charity. We don’t delve it out willy-nilly. We hold onto it like a precious commodity.

Because trust is very precious.

We all have been burned by mistakes and bad relationships. Some of us may still have the wounds from jilted words and back stabs.

Once you feel your trust being compromised it’s so hard to show it again.

What I love about this verse is the trust that is displayed on various levels.

The possessed man doesn’t do anything, yet is healed. He didn’t trust Jesus. He didn’t beg him for healing. He didn’t do anything, yet Jesus showed compassion as He passed by.

So often I see people hurting and it seems the world passes them by. I sometimes wonder if they feel God passing them by as well? That is a hard question, but when you’re hurting, you can feel that pit of doom in a split second when nothing changes day after day.

Then we see the man who trusted and begged Jesus to save his daughter.

I wonder how he was feeling as the crowds surrounded? I wonder if he was begging Jesus to hurry up. To stop talking to the crowd. To focus on him and his daughter.

Then the bleeding woman stopped Jesus in his tracks.

“Who touched me?”

Jesus could have moved on, but He stopped.

I bet Jairus didn’t stop. I bet he was pleading with Jesus to keep walking, jogging, running to his daughter. I bet Jairus was pleading with the crowd to stop shoving because every second is priceless.

I bet the bleeding woman stopped in fear. She trusted with her whole heart and reached out and touched Jesus’ clothes and now she is being sought out for touching. Because being touched by an unclean woman in Jewish custom is a big no-no. She wasn’t just dirty, but in Jewish custom she just dirtied Jesus.

I bet she was trembling. I bet she was shaking. I bet the crowd parted from her like the plague when they realized who it was in their midst.

I can see the woman falling to the ground. I can see her trembling in shame of the last decade of downcast looks. I can see her ready to be punished for her selfishness of healing. I can see her look of regret even though she felt healing for the first time.

But Jesus didn’t look down on her in disgust. He called her daughter. He called her a term of endearment. He lifted up her name among the people who shunned her moments before.

And once again He stopped. He stopped and healed her physically, emotionally, spiritually. He stopped and focused all His attention on the trembling woman and just like He stilled the storms days before, He stilled her fragile heart.

But once again, I can pictures Jairus begging Jesus to move. I can see him pointing in the direction of his home. “It’s just over there! It’s just over the hill! Come on Jesus! Move!”

But Jesus doesn’t.

Jairus’ trust was probably stolen when someone rushed to him and said his daughter was dead. I bet he stopped breathing. I bet he stopped pleading. I bet his stopped seeing Jesus as a healer. I bet his eyes darted to the healed woman thinking, “You stole my miracle! You took my daughter from me! You killed her with your bleeding!”

It’s not recorded how Jesus sounded when he heard the news. We just know what he said, “Just trust me.”

Did Jairus trust him after he heard the news of his daughter? Did he trust Jesus to perform another miracle? We don’t hear anything else from Jairus on the walk home. We don’t know if it was a short walk or a days long journey. We don’t know what Jesus was saying. Was He repeating to Jairus to trust Him? Was He teaching to the crowd? Was He silent?

But no matter how Jairus was feeling, his daughter was raised to life again.

Sometimes God uses our faith to heal. Sometimes He uses His mastery to show us who He is. Sometimes He waits until we are at our lowest to rescue us.

After being rescued it doesn’t matter when it happened. We don’t tell God after the cancer disappears, “You could have done that months ago?” We don’t scorn God when his mercy is shown, “I needed your touch back then.” We don’t dismiss his goodness when we finally feel it.

We don’t distrust Him when He shows us He is trustworthy.

But He is trustworthy. So why are you not trusting?

Are you like the possessed man and not even looking for Him? Are you like Jairus and begging Him? Are you like the bleeding woman and reaching out for Him?

God doesn’t need our trust to perform His miracles.

But trusting Him makes it easier in the waiting.

May you rest in the waiting…because He is here with you now. He is singing over you, “Just trust me.”

So, please trust Him. He’s proven Himself so many times before. And He will always show His goodness and trustworthy nature.

Peace