If we have grown up in church, we have heard this story multiple times. But a few weeks ago, I heard this and it was like I had heard it for the first time. I love that about the Lord. He lets you kinda skim past a story in the past, and then you hear it again, thinking, "Oh I've heard this before...." and try to tune out, and then the Lord directs your attention to His word....His living and breathing word...that brings healing and forgiveness from "mere pages."
When I heard the story of this woman, I began to cry. Though I haven't had the problem she had, I have seen healing in my life and I am still in need of it. Why would an amazing a powerful God want to heal me? Because He is that gracious and loving...not only to me but to those reading this and to those around the world.
What struck me though was this part of the story: that she just touched a fringe of His garment. When I think of the word "fringe" I think about like a piece of thread or just like a small piece of fabric....that is all it took to heal her. Amazing. That is the power of the God we serve. As a commentary by Matthew Henry states,
"by a peculiar impulse of the Spirit of faith, she believed Him to have such an overflowing fulness of healing virtue, that every touch of His garment would be her cure. ...She believed she should be healed if she did but [just] touch the very hem of HIs garment, the very extremity of it."
I was reading in my study Bible about how this woman, who had this problem for many years, was considered "unclean" in her society. So "unclean" that she couldn't even enter into the Lord's house to worship. Anything she sat on or touched or even by going into a room, it had to be shut off and cleaned and left for a certain number of days before it could be used again. She must have had some reputation..."There goes that woman who is unclean..." What it must have been like to hear that over and over again for 12 years. She spent all her money trying to get healed, and trying to find some answer to her problem, then she heard that this Jesus was coming, and that He performed miracles... and then, a glimpse of Hope...
Sounds like my life... over and over I mess up. I seem to be doing fine, then I mess up by sinning, and get knocked to the ground. Over and over this happens, and I hear that same old story, "You're down again? You messed up again? Oh, come on, He will never take you back now..." The enemy loves to hold me down and tell me lie after lie... and I believe him, and therefore, I stay down. Forgetting the forgiveness in the Healer's hands. And I begin to lose my faith... the faith that I remembered just a few months ago that got me out of another mess, the faith that brought the Light to my eyes in the beginning, the faith that can move mountains. I forget... then.. BAM it hits me! No, I can and I will get up from this pit. The enemy cannot hold me down any longer, and I refuse to let him do it. I will send him back to Hell where he truly belongs with his lies and evil schemes. The Lord revealed to me while reading through this passage that just the smallest bit of faith will do so much... Remember the mustard seed?
Wow. faith as small as a mustard seed, can move a mountain. "the fringe of His garment..." can heal a woman of a disease. The "smallest" part of faith and Jesus can save and heal us with a Mighty power.
Back to the story... so once she touches His garment... she knows what she has done... though she is healed immediately, she remembers her past and remembers that she isn't even allowed to come near the Rabbi's, because, remember she is "unclean." Though the miraculous part is, Jesus stops and asks, "Who touched me?" He knew all along who it was...but He... a Rabbi in His time... turned to her...and she, "...came in fear and trembling and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth." She knew she did something she wasn't suppose to do, yet He looked on her with compassion and uttered the most beautiful words to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you, go in peace..." She was waiting for correction and condemnation, but received compassion and mercy instead.Matthew Henry says, "He called her daughter, for He spoke to her with the tenderness of a father."
That is me. knowing I have done wrong in the eyes the Holy and Righteous One...yet He says to me, "Daughter..." that alone makes me marvel. He sees us as His children, HIS CHILDREN! A Holy, Righteous, Almighty God, sees you and I as His child. He calls us Daughters and Sons... what a privilege. So take heart. those that are reading this... if you struggle with something that you think God can't heal you of, or you have been sick for a while, GOD CAN HEAL YOU. It may not happen immediately, but just have the faith that He will, and in HIS timing, it will happen. God sees the innermost being of us... He knows our struggles and knows our desires, run to Him with those, and trust that He will carry you through. Don't dwell on what you used to be or what the enemy (who's native tongue is lies) is telling you, cling to who God calls you, "Daughter" or "Son." and hold on to His unfailing love for you. No matter what you think it is, He will forgive you and heal you. Let His promises dwell in your heart.
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