A thought on faith...

Two sick children, two worried parents. One parent, a Syrophoenician woman, the other a Synagogue leader. Both came to see Jesus. Both children were healed by Jesus. The Syrophoenician woman persevered in her faith, and Jesus healed her child with a word, never even laying eyes on the child. The Synagogue leader though wanted Jesus to come to the house, lay his hands on the girl, and heal his daughter. His faith, while enough to bring him to Jesus, was not as great as the Gentile woman's. Jesus went with the man, but sadly, before Jesus could reach the child and lay hands on her, the girl died. When they got to the house, there was a great commotion, people weeping and wailing over her death. There was terrible sadness, anxiety, and fear- what a tragedy. Even though everyone had given up hope, Jesus did proceed to heal the girl. This happy end gets much of our attention, but can you imagine the pain of the mother and family when they saw the child die? What a terrible thing to go through- to watch your child die. For some terrible moments, they did not know what the outcome would be- they had given up hope. I imagine those were some of the worst moments of their lives. 

It could have been avoided. If the Synagogue leader had had the faith of the Syrophoenician woman, or of the Centurion whose servant was healed from a distance, he could have said to Jesus- "Just say the word and my daughter would be healed." All the worry, the fretful trip to the house, the anxiety over the delay when the woman touched Jesus' cloak, the fighting through the crowds of people, the anguish of hearing that his daughter had died, the weeping and wailing, the feeling that he was too late- it could have been avoided. A little more faith and he would have had the same result- a healed daughter- without all the anguish. 

How often are we this man? How much worry and anxiety, fear and pain do we go through because we just didn't have a little more faith? I know that many times, stressful situations have come up during our time here in Cameroon. My natural tendency is to be worried, to "freak out." Sometimes I have- and then God has worked everything out in a way I could never have expected. I need to be more like the gentile woman- I need to have a little more faith, spend a little more energy in persistently asking God, and less energy worrying and fretting about what will happen. Let's (and I'm talking to myself) try and remember this. God can cause things to work out for our good, but we can save ourselves so much drama, so much agony, if we will just remember to trust- if we have a little more faith, we'd have a lot less fear.