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.”
Mark 5:27-28
Imagine you are the woman in Mark 5. Because of the Jewish ceremonial laws, you have been “unclean” for 12 years, meaning no one wants to be around you. Also, you are a woman, which makes you a lower class citizen. You don’t feel well, and you have spent all you had trying to find a cure for this bleeding. Nothing has helped, and you are at the end of your rope. Then someone tells you Jesus is in town. You have heard the stories about Jesus healing many and you think “If I can just speak to Him, maybe He can help me.” The crowds are huge but you will not be deterred. You think “If I can just touch His clothes I will be healed.”
What suffering are you in the midst of? Are you at the end of your rope? Are you running low on patience? Have you taken the problem to Jesus? Have you, in faith, reached out to “touch His clothes,” to find comfort?
No one this side of heaven can fully understand or explain suffering. All we know is that God’s ways are not our ways. We don’t know why this woman had to suffer for 12 years, just as we don’t know why people suffer today. We do know the Bible says our current sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us. God’s glory is revealed in us when we endure the trials of this life.
It is in those dark times that we demonstrate our faith in God to those around us. If this woman had never been sick, she would never have testified to the healing power of God. We need to remember that not everyone is healed. Some are called to live by God’s power in the midst of their suffering. Whether we can testify to His healing power or to His sustaining power in the trial, we are called to declare His power to a lost and dying world. Someone told the woman in our story of the power of Jesus or else she would not have gone to Him. How about you? Who are you telling about what He has done in your life?
No matter the trial, God wants to draw you closer to Him so you can glorify Him in your circumstances. How is He asking you to use the trials and pains in your life to further His kingdom?
