...But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him. And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. (Luke 8:42-44 NASB
Jairus was desperate for Jesus to intervene on behalf of his daughter. Her life hung in the balance, and she was fading fast, but Jesus was on His way. Help would be there soon.
The crowd was terrible. Everyone was pushing and pressing, trying to get next to Jesus. Before Jairus knew it, a sick woman, an unclean woman, was next to Jesus. No one talked about her problem. It was not a topic for polite conversation, but they all knew she was unclean. She had a sickness and had been unclean for twelve years. She hated her twelve-year-old sickness as much as Jairus loved his almost twelve-year-old daughter.
The immediate problem with this woman in the crowd, Jairus knew, was that she had a hemorrhage. The law was clear about this kind of bleeding. She was unclean until seven days after it stopped. Even worse, if someone touched her, they became unclean until evening.
'Now if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, all the days of her impure discharge she shall continue as though in her menstrual impurity; she is unclean. (Leviticus 15:25 NASB)
Jairus must have watched in horror as this woman, this unclean woman, reached out for Jesus. She was just about to make Jesus unclean until evening! Unclean, just when Jairus needed a miracle. What Jairus didn't realize yet was that Jesus could make all things clean, make all illness whole.
Those divine delays are so frightening and so frustrating, aren't they? When we desperately need a miracle, the last thing we want is a delay. We want instant miracles, don't we? In our desperation, we can easily lose our compassion and concern for others around us who also need a miracle. Our need is always greatest, at least to us, isn't it?
From the moment that Jairus laid his need at the feet of Jesus, a miracle of divine intervention was unfolding. Jesus didn't forget about Jairus or his daughter when He stopped for the woman with the hemorrhage. Their divine intervention was still unfolding. The problem for Jairus was that the stop for the woman was not on his personal agenda.
What about us? Are we in need of divine intervention? Do we need God to do something now? Have we become desperate about His "delay"? If we could only see that "delay" the way God sees it, perhaps it would give us hope by demonstrating the great power about to be directed toward our own problem. Perhaps it would be cause for rejoicing.
Take hope, dear ones. There is quite enough God, quite enough power, to handle the problems of others as well as your own crisis. Once you have relinquished your need to Jesus, leave it in His capable hands. He may not move when you want, but He's always right on time. He will not forget you, nor abandon you.
Pray today for a heart that sees the needs around us as God sees them, and the faith to wait on a God until His answer is complete.
-------
Link to last night's post: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/08/lessons-from-battlefield-young-hezekiah_25.html
-------
Please pray for our precious brothers and sisters in Nigeria who are struggling because of the tyranny of Boko Haram and their persecution of Christians. Do not forget that they are allies of ISIS (Islamic State).
No comments:
Post a Comment