Holding On By a Thread
We've all been there. Despite all our grasping at life, the thing we valued most is slipping from our grip. And like some mockery of the control we thought we had over some thing, person, or situation, we are left "holding on by a thread." Our "last nerve", our "last hope", our "last ounce of strength." In our job, in our family, in our relationship. In our finances. In our health. We feel as if that last bit will snap and we will go careening off (toward the refrigerator for chocolate ice cream in my case), into hopelessness or some comfort we know is unhealthy and unwise.
There was once a woman who was being bled to death, physically by a disease that had her hemorraging for 12 years, and financially by doctors who took her money but did nothing for her and only made her worse. In her desperation, lost in a crowd, she reached out to JESUS just to touch the fringe of His clothing, believing in faith that if she just touched the edge of His clothing...just one string of that fringe she knew He as a good Jew would be wearing though the crowd kept her from seeing Him clearly, she would be healed.
She had snuck up behind Him, knowing that to touch a man not her husband would be wrong, and to touch a man when she was bleeding, and unclean, was especially wrong since it would cause Him to have to purify Himself because of it, because of her. If she had announced to the crowd why she needed healing they might literally "kick her to the curb" for making them unclean, too, and causing them to have to purify themselves. But there is no wrong way to come to JESUS.
JESUS turns and asks who touched Him, not because He doesn't know, but to have her publicly acknowledge her faith and for Him to publicly acknowledge her actions on the faith that was given to her.
And she was healed from the moment she touched Him.
And there's the lesson. This woman needn't grasp and grab and clutch at JESUS for healing. Just a touch to a string. All our grasping does is frustrate and exhaust us, but all that we really need is to use what little strength we have, what little faith we have, to reach out to JESUS and He does the rest. JESUS said that if we have faith as tiny as a mustard seed we can do miraculous things. We can cry out "LORD, I believe! Help my unbelief!" And Paul tells us that even that little bit of faith is a gift of GOD. When we use that last bit of strength to roll our cares onto Christ, we truly sense how deeply He cares for us as His own, no matter what our condition. Just as He acknowledges this woman as "Daughter", His child by faith.
That fringe that JESUS wore was a symbol Jewish people were told by GOD to wear to remind themselves of the law, all of the commandments. And JESUS, in love as the fulfillment of the Law, used the faith this woman was given to bless her and teach us that He is our Lifeline. We can reach out to Him now, with what little strength we have, even when it seems we're only hanging by a thread.
Scriptures used in this entry: Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:24-34; Luke 8:43-48; Numbers 15:38-39; Matthew 17:20; 1 Peter 5:7; Ephesians 2:8; Romans 13:10; Mark 9:24
There was once a woman who was being bled to death, physically by a disease that had her hemorraging for 12 years, and financially by doctors who took her money but did nothing for her and only made her worse. In her desperation, lost in a crowd, she reached out to JESUS just to touch the fringe of His clothing, believing in faith that if she just touched the edge of His clothing...just one string of that fringe she knew He as a good Jew would be wearing though the crowd kept her from seeing Him clearly, she would be healed.
She had snuck up behind Him, knowing that to touch a man not her husband would be wrong, and to touch a man when she was bleeding, and unclean, was especially wrong since it would cause Him to have to purify Himself because of it, because of her. If she had announced to the crowd why she needed healing they might literally "kick her to the curb" for making them unclean, too, and causing them to have to purify themselves. But there is no wrong way to come to JESUS.
JESUS turns and asks who touched Him, not because He doesn't know, but to have her publicly acknowledge her faith and for Him to publicly acknowledge her actions on the faith that was given to her.
And she was healed from the moment she touched Him.
And there's the lesson. This woman needn't grasp and grab and clutch at JESUS for healing. Just a touch to a string. All our grasping does is frustrate and exhaust us, but all that we really need is to use what little strength we have, what little faith we have, to reach out to JESUS and He does the rest. JESUS said that if we have faith as tiny as a mustard seed we can do miraculous things. We can cry out "LORD, I believe! Help my unbelief!" And Paul tells us that even that little bit of faith is a gift of GOD. When we use that last bit of strength to roll our cares onto Christ, we truly sense how deeply He cares for us as His own, no matter what our condition. Just as He acknowledges this woman as "Daughter", His child by faith.
That fringe that JESUS wore was a symbol Jewish people were told by GOD to wear to remind themselves of the law, all of the commandments. And JESUS, in love as the fulfillment of the Law, used the faith this woman was given to bless her and teach us that He is our Lifeline. We can reach out to Him now, with what little strength we have, even when it seems we're only hanging by a thread.
Scriptures used in this entry: Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:24-34; Luke 8:43-48; Numbers 15:38-39; Matthew 17:20; 1 Peter 5:7; Ephesians 2:8; Romans 13:10; Mark 9:24
posted by Ariel Lion of God | 7:19 PM
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