I am someone who wants to see proof before I believe things or trust someone. Show me what you are saying is true and then I will believe you is like a mantra for me. Or at least it was until I became a Christian. Now, my whole life is wrapped up in believing without seeing everything. I can see some things, but not all. On the other hand, I believe everything God says because He is God and doesn’t lie. (Numbers 23:19)

Let’s take a walk down a path of believing vs. understanding. I am sure you are all familiar with the story of Jairus coming to Jesus because his young daughter was dying.

Jesus had a large crowd following Him, a Jairus, a synagogue leader, must have already believed in Jesus and His power because he sought out Jesus and asked Him to come and heal his daughter. That is certainly a demonstration of believing, also called faith.

Jesus’s trip to Jairus’s house was interrupted by a woman who touched Him and received healing from a blood issue that had been going on for years. Jesus was speaking about this event when people arrived from Jairus’s house and told Jairus not to bother Jesus anymore because his daughter had died. What a bummer, right? Jairus traveled to get Jesus’s help, found Jesus and Jesus was on the way when his daughter died.

Jesus overheard the news that they brought to Jairus and instead of saying, “Oh, that’s too bad. I’m so sorry that I’m too late,” Jesus told Jairus to just believe. He didn’t ask him to understand why this happened or how Jesus could change things. He said to just believe and not be afraid.

When unexpected things happen in our lives, we need to remember this scripture and hold on to it. We may never understand why bad things happen or what the end result might be, but we can hold on the promise that Jesus can make a difference and believe. Jairus believed and Jesus raised his daughter from the dead.

Can any of us understand how that happened? Of course, we cannot because our finite minds cannot comprehend miracles that occur in the presence of the Lord. We don’t have to understand for it to take place. Jesus didn’t say, “Understand.” He said to just believe. I think sometimes our quest for knowledge and understanding gets in the way of our faith, our belief in a God who can do anything because He is God.

Our belief in the God of all mankind and we cannot explain an infinite and omniscient and omnipresent God with our finite knowledge. We can, however, believe. Just believe. The understanding may or may not come later, but our belief doesn’t depend on our understanding. Our belief is based on who God is, not what we think about Him.

If we take things like our daily challenges at face value, many of us would just throw up our hands and quit before we even start our day. But because we believe, we dedicate the day to the Lord and ask Him to fulfill His plan in it and through us. I don’t understand why there is so much pain and suffering in the world, like the genocide of Christians. in Nigeria. But I do trust God and believe that He is still active and working even when I don’t understand.

How about you? Are you trying to get your understanding to line up with your faith? Faith comes first. Understanding may never come.