When the Words Were Spoken to Me

And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Tal-i-tha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked. Mark 5:41,42 (KJV)

This is one of the few instances in Scripture where Jesus is called upon to heal a sick person but does not arrive until after the person has died. The people who hoped to see a healing saw a resurrection instead! They could surely attest to the fact that God’s ways were higher than their ways. While there was ’hope’ when the loved one lay sick, impossibility marked their situation at the point of death. They thought this was the instance that placed them outside of God’s ability to intervene. Once again they were witness to the fact that with God nothing is impossible.

I have come to realize that God is still intent on doing the impossible. He loves to do the very things we consider impossible and hopeless. He is still in the business of taking each one of us by the hand and whispering ‘arise’ to us. The word arise is rich with meaning. In the original language it means to waken; rouse from sleep, sitting or lying, from disease, from death, from obscurity, inactivity, ruin, non-existence. To awake, lift up, rear up, stand, take up. In Bible times it was spoken to the crippled, paralyzed, and dead. It was a life changing, destiny altering word that empowered an individual to do what was considered unlikely or impossible.

Hopefully, each of us can look back at a time when Jesus said “Tal-i-tha cumi” to us. The first time would have been at salvation when we went from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive! It was from that point that we walked away in newness of life. I still recount with joy the day it happened for me on July 13, 1973. I sensed the shift internally and knew my life had forever been changed.

Some thirty years later in February of 2004 He once again took me by the hand and said the equivalent of “Tal-i-tha cumi.” Not for salvation but for an invitation to walk away from legalism, emptiness, and distorted views of Himself. Once more I sensed that internal shift that let me know my life would never be the same.

There have continued to be times of when He has spoken that phrase to me in times of turmoil, distress, heartache, and pain. Each time I receive His words I am astounded at the ability to walk anew!

Father, thank you for such tenderness and healing. Amen.