Optimist Roundtable
By Martha Sykes
When making a phone call, being put on hold is a very familiar, as well as frustrating experience for many of us. It is particularly frustrating when the matter you’re calling about is urgent. Of course, they’ve added pleasant music to hold buttons nowadays. It doesn’t help when the situation is serious and it can be very irritating. Life is no fun when life is put on hold!
In the book of Mark is a story about a frantic father whose daughter is dying. He has no phone of course, but he has heard that there is someone nearby who may be to help save his daughter’s life. And when he finds this great physician, he hurries up to him. Even though he is a man of some prominence in power in the community, this worried father lays aside his pride and literally gets on his knees at this man’s feet and begs him to come see his daughter. This man’s name is Jairus. Then there is a break in the story because as Jesus is making His way through the throng, a woman with an issue of blood reaches out in touch as the hem of Jesus’s garment.Can you imagine the stress that this frantic father was under at this particular moment? His request was put on hold while the master ministered to another. This is a very familiar story telling of how Jesus healed Jairus’s daughter.
If you remember the story of Mary and Martha the same thing happened to them. They sent for Jesus when their brother Lazarus was sick but they had to wait.
Sometimes when we pray, we can wonder if God heard us, or we can ask why it takes so long to get answers. Anyone who has had an active prayer life knows that there are times when we confront a profound silence on the other end of our prayer line. Sometimes God is like that. We know He knows about our distress. We know He cares. We know God loves us. We know He is aware of our concerns. It’s just that sometimes He makes us wait and that can be difficult because we feel helpless.
When we are put on hold, as we sometimes are, we hold on even tighter to the promises of God. We know God will not for sake us even if He does not work on our time schedule.
That is when we must hold on to Christ’s promises because we know that He is our Lord, our Savior, our redeemer, and our friend. When our lives are put on hold we do not let go, because we know that He does not let go of us.
