IN HIS GRIP: TOUCH THE EDGE OF HIS ROBE

Luke 8:43-48

New Living Translation (NLT)

A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”

But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

I couldn’t even imagine the agony of what this woman had been through. I am a woman and have to go through the pain of having my period every month! (pardon me my male friends :P )  I would be gritting my teeth in pain, and obviously would be as anemic as a zombie and as dizzy and weak as a girl who’ve just ridden on a giant tea cup in a carnival.

But twelve years of hemorrhaging as well as being outcast because, under the law, she was ceremonially unclean?! What an anguish!

But who wouldn’t be amazed by her faith? Who wouldn’t be dumbstruck by her hope?   I try to picture her in my mind right now. She has heard about Jesus and His miracles. Although very weak, she gathered all her strength. She was too weak to stand, to chase, to push herself in the crowd of people who were also seeking aid. So, she crawled, gathering what little strength and hope left, she reached out thinking, “If I could touch even the edge of His garment, I will be healed!”

And she was healed! “Daughter,” Jesus said, “your faith has made you well.”

Right at this very moment, there are people dear to me who are sick, either physically, spiritually or both. I was speaking to one of them this morning, and even through the miles between us, my spirit could sense his agony and his dimming hope. I just had to kneel down before God in prayer, “Lord, how do I even pray for him? How do I encourage him?” Even before I say my Amen, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the story of the bleeding woman.

To you who are suffering right now, from sickness, or from being in bondage of sin for so long, my prayer is that in your brokenness and agony, may you see the light of hope. May you have the same faith as this woman and may that faith give you the strength to reach out to touch even the edge of the Lord’s garment and be healed. God loves you. God can heal you. Have faith and be healed. In Jesus’ Name! Amen and amen! 

@attic_kat