Tell It

Any parent who has had a child who was gravely ill will tell you how very difficult it is to handle. There is a major feeling of helplessness to have a child that is sick, and who begs you to make him or her better. It is bad enough to have this happen if you live where there is modern medical care available; at least in those circumstances, you have a little assurance that a solution will be found. But imagine how difficult it would be with no healthcare available beyond folk remedies, and your child is sick with a fever, and continues to get more and more ill. What can you do? How do you handle it??

Today’s Bible story in song by Don Francisco is from Mark 5:22-24, and Mark 5:35-43. It involves this very problem, and the efforts made by the father to get the only help he could think of: The healer from Galilee, Jesus. From Don Francisco’s 1979 album of the same name, here is Got To Tell Somebody.  The audio Bible version used here is the 2002 dramatized NIV Audio Bible by Zondervan Publishing, read by Steven Johnston.

She kept on getting weaker as day dragged into day
The doctors gave no hope for her; she seemed to fade away
My hours were filled with constant dread; time became a knife
That slowly and relentlessly cut the cord of life

There was a teacher in the region then some of us had heard
That He’d healed a paralytic by the power of just His Word
So with hope again rekindled I went at once to see
If I could find a man named Jesus from a town in Galilee

I began to search the city and soon I saw the crowd
They were pressing in to touch Him and they called His Name out loud
But with the strength of desperation I pushed them all aside
I through myself before Him and from my knees I cried,

“Lord, come and heal my daughter! Even now she’s close to death!
Her fever’s uncontrollable, she fights for every breath.
But God’s given You the power; life is Yours to give;
If you’ll just lay Your hands on her I know that she will live.!
She will live, she will live.”

Well, He’d just begun to go with me when a face I saw with fear
Came towards me with the news I knew I didn’t want to hear
And although I tried to steel myself I trembled when he said
“Why bother the Teacher anymore? Your little girl is dead.”

Then Jesus touched my shoulder and He told me not to grieve
The trembling stopped when He looked at me and said, “Only believe!”
Then He sent the crowds away except His closest men
And they followed right behind us, as we started off again

But we were still a long ways down the road when I heard the sounds and cries
Of the mourners and musicians as they strove to dramatize
My grief they had no business with beneath their loud disguise
My wife just sat there silently, and stared through empty eyes

Then Jesus asked the mourners, “Why is it that you weep?
She isn’t dead as you suppose, the child is just asleep.”
It only took a moment for their wails to turn to jeers
“Who does this man think he is? Get him out of here!”

And with authority I’ve never heard in the lips of any man
He spoke and every sound rolled out with the thunder of command
And in the sudden silence they all hurried for the door
Wondering what the reasons were they’d ever come there for

Then He called his three disciples that were with Him on the way
He led them and my wife and me to where our daughter lay
He took her by the hand; He told her “Child, arise!”
And the words were barely spoken when she opened up her eyes!

She rose and walked across the room and stood there at our side
My wife knelt down and held her close and at last she really cried
And then Jesus told us both to see that our daughter had some food
But as to how her life was saved, not to speak a word…
Not to speak a word…

I got to tell somebody!

I got to tell somebody!

I got to tell somebody
I got to tell somebody
I got to tell somebody, got to tell somebody, what Jesus did for me
I got to tell somebody, got to tell somebody, what Jesus did for me
I got to tell somebody, got to tell somebody, what Jesus did for me
I got to tell somebody, got to tell somebody, what Jesus did for me!

You can purchase this music        from the artist’s web site here.