Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Persistence from the Dirt

Today as I thought about the state of persistence, I thought of the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5 and Luke 8. Allow me a little creative license as I tell her story.

She had spent all the money that she had. She was without any additional resources and due to her bloody issue, she was, more than likely, ostracized from her family and those that she held dear. She was down to utter desperation. She heard that Jesus was in town and that he had done wonderful miracles. He had opened blinded eyes, caused the lame to walk, healed leprosy and she knew that if she could get to him that he could heal her also. Her blood loss had put quite a toll on her body and she was so exhausted and barely able to function but she knew she would have to persevere if she wanted even the opportunity for Jesus to heal her. With great difficulty she cleaned herself up, got dressed and went out into the city. Much to her dismay, there was a very crowd gathered around him. As she stood there in consternation, tears welled up in her eyes and she felt like sobbing and giving up because she knew that, due to the throng, it would be very difficult to touch him, let alone speak to him. But the thought came to her, “this is your only option. If not this then it is a sure death.” So she took a deep breath, straightened her backbone and started over towards the crowd that surrounded her hope, Jesus. As she reached the outer edges of the throng of people, she realized that there is no way that she is going to be able to speak to him but if she could just touch him, surely that would be enough. As she tried to politely push through, the strength of the crowd overwhelmed her. As she weakly but doggedly made her way through the crowd, she got shoved and she fell to the ground. She tried to stand but no one was paying attention to her to give her a hand up and she was much too weak to rise on her own. “If I am going to make it to Jesus,” she thought, “I will have to do it from down here.” She moved through the crowd on her hands and knees  Dirt and dust from everyone's sandles were getting in her eyes and mouth.  It seemed that the closer she got to Jesus the weaker and dirtier she became but finally she saw a break in the crowd just ahead. It wasn’t a large break as people were thronging Him but it was enough that she could see the edge of his robe.  Finally she was able to stretch her arm out and touch the very edge of his garment. The healing virtue that flowed through her was wonderful. She felt the warmth of a healing touch staunch the bloody issue. But wait, he is now asking to know who touched him. “Surely he isn’t talking about me as there were a bunch of people touching him.” She thought, “See even his disciples said so; but he is saying that virtue left his body.” Struggling to get in the standing position, she told him it was she who touched him. Then he said the words that she had been longing for years to hear, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” Turning away from him she made her way back through the crowd, only this time with a strength that she hadn’t felt in twelve years. Once she returned to her home, she marveled how life was completely transformed in such a short time due to touching Jesus.

There are times when life has us worn down to desperation. We do not feel strong enough to stand, let alone to do anything else, but we know that we cannot endure another day like this. Oh, we know about Jesus but He seems so far away and we do not feel strong enough to even call out to Him. Our sins and poor choices have weakened us to the point of hopelessness and we find ourselves spiritually, emotionally on the ground being stepped on and ignored by the crowd. It seems that no one cares about us. We have heard of Jesus and how they say He cares for us but despair has clouded our thoughts and causes us to be paralyzed in that state of hopelessness and fear. If you can somehow get just a tiny bit of strength to call on Jesus, he WILL transform your life. If you can just persist in reading His Word, He will speak to you and lead you in the right path. If you can just hold on to that miniscule hope within your heart and believe on Jesus, the Savior of the world, He will pull you through. Once you have persisted until you have touched Jesus, you will be in awe of your transformation. With a single touch of Jesus, your life can and will be changed. With a single Word from Him, your life will be filled with purpose, direction and meaning. Just be persistent until you have touched him.

No comments:

Post a Comment