Deep Faith
I know myself. I know my personal struggles. I know the depth of my faith, or I could say the shallowness of my faith. I have walked with the Lord a long time. I still struggle with doubt at times. I sometimes must pray the prayer of the dad whose son needed healing from Jesus… “I do believe, please help my unbelief”.
I remember when my son was diagnosed with cancer 11 years ago next week, my faith was shaken to its core. I prayed for healing. I prayed for strength. My prayers were desperate. The Lord walked with me through that time of his suffering. It was a hard journey. I had a lot of hard conversations with the Lord. The Lord was so patient with me during that hard journey. I’m so humbled and thankful that the outcome was healing.
The event that happened on the way to healing of Jairus’ daughter was significant to the one person involved. It was a teachable moment to everyone around about deep faith. Check this out….
25 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. 28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”29 Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.
30 Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”
31 His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
32 But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him 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.”(Mark 6:25-34 NLT)
It’s almost as if Jesus wanted to connect with her and explain why she was healed. She was already healed when came forward because Jesus was looking for whoever it was that was healed. I loved the very last line of this event… “Your suffering is over”. She could not go about her life without all the preparation and precautions that each day required. I believe every human being suffers at some level during their lives. It’s not “if”, it’s “when”. I don’t welcome suffering, but my faith has grown to the place where I’m not paralyzed by fear of suffering. I know that the Lord will walk with me through suffering. He can heal my suffering. He gives me a new perspective on suffering. Instead of asking, “Why me?”, I can ask “Why not me?”
“When this life brings suffering, Lord, I will remember…. What Calvary has bought for me, both now and forever” (God, You’re So Good) I will declare the goodness of God even in the face of struggle and suffering. He is the Healer. I will also remember that I’m living in the land of the dying but I’m headed to the land of the living!
Pressing On!
Dwayne