STXWM Blog

The word “prayer” tends to evoke images of demure bowed heads in a silent cathedral except for the low reverent hum of an organ thrumming out “Amazing Grace” in the background.  I think that’s why so many people find it a hard concept to grasp.  “How do I talk to God?”  Sometimes, in church circles, we say things like “Praying is just talking to God” as if that makes it sound easier to someone who is new to following Christ.

Having been brought up in the church, I often forget that speaking openly to someone we can neither hear nor see with our natural senses is an abstract concept to many.  But in reality, it’s not always so easy for me either.  As a matter of fact, the less I understand how God is moving in a situation, the less reachable He feels to me.  Thank God our relationship with Him is not based on feelings.

A woman, (that I feel I can relate to so well), encountered Jesus briefly and left us with one of the most encouraging examples of prayer in the whole Bible.  The gospels do not share the name her mother gave her at the beginning of her story, but by the end she was given a name by Jesus himself.  Many of the stories from the life of Christ are shared in multiple places by different witnesses in his group of disciples.  This story is not different.  You can find the story of this precious lady and her encounter with the Lord in Matthew 9, Luke 8 and Mark 5.  

All of these accounts let us know that when she met Jesus, He was in the middle of a grueling ministry trip.  He had been preaching and healing all over the area, often being called to yet another location by needs and requests of others who needed His presence wherever they were.  He was traveling back and forth by road on foot and across lakes by boat to meet the unending needs of the people.  It is no wonder He got on a boat one time and fell straight to sleep in a terrible storm.  He must have been exhausted.

On the day in question, Jesus had just arrived by boat only to be met on the shore by a crowd that had been waiting for Him.  An important man immediately approached Him begging Him to come heal his only daughter.  It was a time sensitive request and the man was desperate.  As Jesus waded through the crowd of people pressing in on Him from all sides He suddenly stopped and said the strangest thing: “Who touched me?”

No one knew what he meant.  His disciples even reminded Him that A LOT of people were touching Him at that very moment.

But she knew what He meant.  Mark tells us in chapter 5 verses 25-28 exactly who she was and why she had touched Him.  

This woman whose name is not mentioned had been suffering for 12 years with chronic bleeding.  With our modern knowledge of women’s bodies we know there could be any number of issues such as endometriosis, trauma, miscarriage, etc.  We do not know how it started but we know that once it did, it never stopped.  With what we know of Hebrew culture in the time of Jesus, we understand what this meant for her life at the time.  Bleeding (for any reason) rendered her unclean and unable to participate in social or religious life.   Her access to everyone was cut off by this ailment.  Mark even says that she suffered at the hands of the physicians that tried to treat her.  I can’t even imagine what primitive remedies they tried to help her with.  The scripture does not tell us if she was married (or ever had been) but if so, this constant state of uncleanness would be grounds for her to be divorced and abandoned by her husband.  Anyone who touched her or her bloody garments would themselves be rendered unclean by association.  Therefore she could not be around anyone, let alone go to the temple for worship.  At no fault of her own, she was utterly alone, separated from people and even from her only way to access God.

Then she heard of a man who had been traveling the area preaching and healing the sick and she said, “If I can just touch His robe, I will be healed.”  Scholars tell us that as a rabbi, Jesus would have worn a Jewish prayer shawl when He ministered in public and that it was the tassels of this shawl that she reached out and brushed with her fingers.  The moment she did, she immediately felt  healing enter her body and Jesus felt the healing power go out of Him drawn by her desperate faith.

How could she?  She was unclean!  Touching Jesus would make Him unclean as well.  She could have been punished for this but she had no choice.  Her desperate desire for healing compelled her forward.

Mark 5:33-34

³³ Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of [Jesus] and told him what she had done. ³⁴ And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

Jesus gave her a name: “Daughter.”

We hear no more of this lady or how her life turned out after this encounter with Jesus, but we do know that her suffering was at an end.  Jesus did not just heal her body that day.  He restored her in every way.  First, He saved her from the punishment she could have received for touching Him at all.  Also, having been healed she would be able to come to the temple again and rejoin society.  She would no longer be alone.

Many times when things are happening that I do not understand or that are uncomfortable for me, I talk about them.  I ask friends for prayer.  This is not a bad thing, but it is no substitute for getting into God’s presence and bringing it before the Lord.  

If I’m honest, sometimes when I delay in bringing things before God it is because I don’t like how He’s handling it.  (Sorry, was that too honest?)  Sometimes, I wonder why it’s taking God so long to answer when I know that He could just do a miracle and fix everything right now.  Sometimes, I wonder why God didn’t fix things in a way that was easier for me.  I’ve asked for miraculous provision before and God sent me a second job instead of a miracle check in the mail.

Pressing into God’s presence can be really hard when we know we have to let him deal with some areas in which we need to grow when we get there.  Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.”

In His presence is where we draw closer to Him, learn what it truly means to trust Him and be more like Jesus.  We may not understand, but we have to KNOW (no matter what we feel)  God is working for His glory for our best always!

I love the song below because it says, “My heart will not be afraid. Lord, you are my shelter.  I’m safe with the Savior.”  If you have been afraid to surrender completely to the Lord, I can promise you that you are safe in God’s presence.  He is a gentle healer, a loving father and a gentleman. He handles all of his children with care.  Growth and change can be scary, and it can even hurt but in His presence is peace and joy.  There is no better place to lay your burdens down than at the feet of Jesus.

In His presence is peace, limitless love, discipline, faith, rest, and so much more. So press in today.  Let the desperate cry of your heart draw you into God’s presence and then dwell there to be transformed and healed for His glory.

by Stephanie S.