It was too late, they said.

She had had a chance, but that was gone now.

“Why even bother?” they said. 

Now was the time to mourn. Now was the time for the grave.

Everyone else saw death. Everyone else saw the end. But not Jesus.

He heard their words about the little girl, about her dying, about it being too late, but the Scripture says He ignored them (Mark 5:36).

To Him, death and ruin were not her portion. It may have seemed there was no life within her anymore, “but she is not dead” Jesus said Mark 5:39.

And so they laughed at Him and jeered at Him (Mark 5:40), because He saw with eyes of faith. He saw a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11) where they saw the tomb. He saw possibility where they had given up. He saw the little girl rising up, where they saw her going down into the grave.

Undeterred, He went in to where the little girl was lying, and I so love this next part – He took her by the hand Mark 5:41.

Holding her hand in His, He spoke to her in faith and in power.

“Talitha cumi,” He said,

Which means,

“Little girl, I say to you, arise” Mark 5:41.

“And instantly,” the Scripture says, “the girl got up and started walking around” Mark 5:42.

And I wonder about a sense of the grave in our own lives.

An anticipation in God that has faded away. An intimacy with Him, decayed.

The fullness of His presence has somehow slipped away, and we feel the desolation of it.

Apart from Him, we wither (John 15:6).

The path away from Him can be as subtle and sweet as the pleasures of life (Luke 8:14). It can be as painful and hungry as hope unfulfilled (Prov.13:12). It can be as consuming as the cares and worries of this world (Luke 8:14), or the pursuit of the things of this world (1 John 2:15). It can be as consuming as a wound unanswered.

But in our distraction, we fail to abide, and we wither.

It is God Who gives life (1 Tim.6:13), and apart from Him, there is a sense of the grave.

But if this is the place we find ourselves, there is such hope, and we see this in this scene of the little girl who had seemingly died.

Jesus does not leave her there. He goes in to be at her side. Emmanuel, God with us. The Light of the world enters into this corner of darkness. The Lord of life (John 11:25), the One Who gives life (John 5:21), has come. Death will not prevail.

He takes her by the hand. There is such tenderness in this for me, such compassion. It is not just that He spoke words, or prayed at a distance, He took hold of her hand. He held her in her weakness. Where there was no strength in her, He held her with His strength.

‘Talitha Cumi,’ He said. ‘Little Girl, Arise.’

And by His power, in His strength, at His Word, she did.

Maybe the Lord would encourage us in the same way today.

If we are carrying a sense of the grave, of lost intimacy with Him, of hope decayed, let’s cry out to Him. Let’s allow Him to do what only He can do by the power of His Spirit in us (Zech 4:6). Let’s allow Him to come to our side, to take our hand, to be held by Him. Let’s allow Him to speak His Word of life over us, and to be restored.

Let’s arise in Him again.

“Little girl, I say to you, arise” Mark 5:41.

~ by Birgit on June 23, 2010.

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, God, Jesus