Touch His Robe
“And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”
Mark 5:25-29 (NIV)
This woman is desperate. She has tried everything within her power to find healing and wholeness, but it has all been a terrible disappointment. She is worse off after the treatments than she was before. How many sleepless nights she must have spent begging God to help her and wondering why He never seemed to hear her cries. But she’s not alone in her struggle.
Many of God’s faithful people experienced suffering while waiting on His work in their lives. Abraham was called to leave his homeland and travel into the unknown so that he could become the father of nations. Joseph was sold into slavery and unfairly imprisoned in Egypt so that he could save a people from perishing. Moses was exiled to the desert to live as a shepherd for forty years so that he could shepherd God’s people through their forty year journey to the Promised Land. As they waited on God’s timing, certainly all of these men spent countless nights staring up at the stars in doubt and confusion, questioning God’s plan for their lives. But through it all, they sought God. And they responded to the invitations that He extended to them. For the woman, it all led to the moment in which she reached out in faith and touched the hem of Jesus’s robe, falling on His grace and mercy. Perhaps she experienced the long years of suffering so that her story would speak into the lives of people like us.
God offers all of us the same invitation that He offered to the hurting woman. Regardless of our struggles, our failures, or our weaknesses, if we will only reach out to Him, we will find that He is always there for us in our need.
Questions:
Like the woman, in what ways have you tried to solve your problems on your own? How did those solutions work out for you?
In what area of your life do you feel your greatest need for God right now?
Prayer: Spend some time in prayer thanking God for His love and mercy and lifting up your need for Him in your life right now.
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