Luke chapter 8 sets the stage for a miraculous move of God. Jesus returns to find a group of people glad to receive him, in fact, they had been waiting for him! This was going to be a tough crowd to penetrate, as everyone wanted to get a glimpse of this man who was able to do miraculous works. I imagine even those with simple ailments were excitedly calling out, "HEAL ME!!" Suddenly a man of prominent position commands the attention of Jesus from his pleading position. A ruler of the synagogue, Jairus steps forward to pray healing on his 12 year old. Jesus would now direct his steps toward Jairus's house as one woman, makes her way through the press with one mission: I've got to touch him.
Each time a name is listed in Scripture, we become expressly aware of their importance and relevance to the account. Jairus is mentioned, and many Jesus touched are also listed with the Book's pages, but this woman's name cannot be found. She was, as Mark recalls, a certain woman having an issue of blood. No name, and really no need. Her plague of 12 years not only diseased her, it defined her.
Have you ever had a problem so great in length and size that it seemed to swallow up your identity? This woman has been sick for 12 long years. When the problem first attacked, we would have found a woman with means to overcome. Scripture does not specifically identify each of these, but we can assume she had a husband and family to help combat this issue. She had means by which she could pay doctors. Her relationships with physicians that touted promises of miraculous healing were many. But her problem had eliminated each of those. Lingering problems leach until there is nothing left.
Many times we are incapable of believing God effectively when we have options. Faith is born when man's ability dies. Faith is ignited in my limitation. The greatest lessons are not learned upon receiving the promise, but by the road of the process. If God always gave us what we wanted, when we wanted it, we would miss the opportunity to learn!
This woman has maintained a disease for 12 laborious years! I don't know about you, but after I've had a problem for about a month, I weary of it! I begin to talk about it. I pray at it. But when you start talking more about you problem than you do your promise, you are praising your problem! Whatever you praise will be magnified in your life. The more I magnify a problem, the more I minimize the physician to whom no problem can compare. We never pray about things that are within our capacity to perform. The bigger my problem becomes, the smaller God gets. The more I magnify Jesus, the more insignificant my problems become.
This woman lost it all, to realize that Jesus was her ultimate solution. "She said within herself," she purposed, she planned, and she prayed that she might just TOUCH Jesus. This is what faith looks like. Faith is more than a mystical hope. Real faith is tangibly and substantially evidenced through our actions. In the face of your problem, no matter how long you've had it, it is time to purpose within your heart to touch the hem of His garment. To get on your knees until they blister, and call out to the one capable of all things. Realize that the answer has been delayed that you might be delivered through faithfulness and fervency. Live a life consumed by your calling, not crippled by your crisis. Every failure in life is a prayer failure.
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