Month: July 2023

A TOUCH OF FAITH

In Mark 5, we read of a man named Jarius whose 12-year-old daughter was dying. He came to Jesus begging Him to go to his daughter to help her live. While on this journey to save Jarius daughter, we read of a woman with “…a flow of blood…” She had this for 12 years! (I thought it kind of interesting that she had this ailment as long as Jarius daughter had been alive. Just thinking!) Read Leviticus 15:19-30. Women were considered impure, during that certain time of month. But she had this for 12 years! Her uncleanness continued this whole time. She could not touch anyone or anything without cleaning and had to go to the priest and have him offer sacrifice for her at the end of her monthly flow of blood. But she had not had an end; she continued unclean, year after year. As a woman, I cannot even fathom how embarrassing-how isolating-how painful-how abandoned-how alone-how rejected-how destitute-how broken-how ashamed-how desperate-how frustrated she must have felt. She had to have felt defined by her illness. It controlled her life in what she could and could not do. I am sure she was most likely anemic, fatigued and worn out physically. (Of course, her flow must not have been heavy or she would have died because of the loss of so much blood.) But needless to say, she was limited in who she could interact with and what she could do or touch. Verse 26 says she “…had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.” She had many expensive treatments trying to find healing, but she ended up getting worse. I read a commentary that one treatment the doctors would use at this time in history, was to carry the ashes of an ostrich egg and that could heal you. I imagine if we were in her shoes, we would have tried about anything too.

Verse 24, says “…a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.” I envision it like being at a conference or a concert with a lot of people. I have been to many where the crowd is shoulder to shoulder in the concourse. This unnamed woman, had deep faith in Jesus and pushed her way through this crowd to get to Jesus. According to law, everyone she touched became unclean. She felt if she could just touch Jesus’ garment, she would be healed. She was disobeying law by touching others and would even make Jesus unclean by touching His garment. Yet she knew Jesus had healed so many and she was desperate, through her faith, to touch His clothes. She knew that through Jesus she had hope! The hope of an unrestricted future! If only we could have that much faith. There are so many times in my life, I have tried so hard to solve an issue within my human realm. There was one time, I just did not have the money to pay my water bill. The water department did not want to hear my “sob story.” If I didn’t pay, they would turn my water off. I went to a relative and they did not have the money. I went home and through many tears, I prayed to God to help us. I didn’t know what to do. The next day, an unexpected check was in the mail. I was able to pay the water bill. Does that happen every time we don’t have hope of solving an issue in our lives? Of course not. But I think back to it and wonder why I did not go to my heavenly Father in the first place. Isn’t it human nature to try to figure things out ourselves and then when we are exhausted from worry and stress, we turn to Him? Just like a father watching his child trying to put together a Lego set. The child is struggling but does not want any help. But then when the child realizes that he needs help, he turns to his father.

Do we feel Jesus is the last resort? Even though, the answer is not as evident, like in my water bill, and the answer might be no-still trust God that He has your best interests for you-He is your only answer and hope-not our last resort! In the illustration about the woman with blood issue, she had spent all the money she had-tried many treatments-she had even gotten worse. But then she realized and had faith and hope that Jesus could heal her. She pushed her way to Him. She reached out to Him. She knew He was her only true hope. She had to put action into her faith!

Verses 29-30 say, “Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.  And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My clothes?” Did you see the word immediately, twice in that verse? As soon as she touched Jesus’ garment, her illness was gone. Jesus immediately knew that by touching His garment, someone had been healed. The disciples were like, what? Telling Jesus, He was surrounded by people. Of course, someone touched Him. I am sure there were many who needed healing in this crowd, but there was something different about the one who touched Him.

This woman was courageous and had true faith in Jesus. She was “so hungry” for Jesus and His love and power, that she pushed herself through that huge crowd. Jesus wanted to correct any mistaken notion she may have had about her healing. It was not any magical quality of His clothing, but His divine will that had made her well. Verse 33 says that she was afraid and trembling but “…she fell to the ground and told Him the whole truth.” As a woman, don’t you feel how embarrassed she was to tell Jesus everything, in front of this crowd. Jesus gave her His entire attention. Jesus tenderly called her “…daughter…” This is the only time in scripture that Jesus calls any woman, daughter. Jesus was tender and compassionate to her and her situation. Jesus makes known to her and the people around observing this, that it was because she had deep faith, that she was healed. Faith itself does not heal; rather, it is the proper object of that faith, Jesus, who heals and we have to put into action our faith by reaching out to Him.

So, what are some of the things we can learn from this story in the Bible for us today? I am sure there are many, but quickly I want to tell you two, that I see.  First, she reached out to Jesus. When we are going through trials and feel helpless-hopeless-broken-abused-angry-worthless-alone-depressed- suicidal-we have to reach out to Jesus through prayer. We hold onto so much “stuff” and don’t reach out for Him. We have to come to the feet of Jesus, just like this woman did, and tell our truth through faith. Doesn’t God already know what we are going through anyway? He wants us to take the action of coming to Him in humility of faith. God can give you peace, so you can take one more step. Have you ever found that if you pour your heart out to Jesus in prayer, that you feel better-more peaceful. The same is true if we talk our truth to a trusted friend. When we hold those negative feelings within our hearts, those feelings will “eat us up.”

Second, how did this woman even know about Jesus? Verse 27 says “When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd…” Someone had told her or she heard someone talking about Jesus. This shows that we need to tell others about Jesus. There are so many “things” a person will turn to in the pain, if they do not have faith in Jesus. Alcohol-drugs-sex-possessions-worldly people. Those people, that someone choses to turn to, needs to be us. We need to be ready, at any time, to let others know of the light that Jesus can give them and their trial. Matthew 28:19-20 says “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus commands us to teach others and let them know of the saving grace and the love that comes from our Father. If the woman with the flow of blood, had not heard about Jesus, I wonder if she would have had this medical condition till the day she died. She would not have known how to have faith in Jesus and the fact that He has the power to save!

This woman was unnamed, but then Jesus called her “…daughter…” How comforted she must have felt! How free, she had to have felt, of all those burdens, that issue of blood had given her! We are also freed from sin through Jesus’ death on the cross. We just have to kneel before Him and honestly pour out our truth! And shine our light for others to be led to God!

This outcast woman became a precious daughter of her Lord! We, as women, are also blessed to be called a daughter of the King! What a simple touch of faith can do!

Till next time!                                  Keela

(Oh, and by the way, Jarius’ daughter was raised from the dead!)

A PILLAR OF SALT

“Remember Lot’s wife.”

-Luke 17:32-

Three simple words with so much meaning. The scriptures before the one quoted above have been talking about the day of judgment. The verses before say “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.” 

“Remember Lot’s wife.” Out of about 170 women in the bible, this is the only one we are TOLD to remember. Why Lot’s wife? We are not even told her name! The story of Lot and his family fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah is in Genesis 19. These two cities had become so evil that God was going to destroy them. Abraham was told by God that these cities would be destroyed. Abraham knew his brother’s son, Lot and family, lived in Sodom. He asked God if there were 50 righteous, all the way down to 10, if He would still destroy the city. Two angels visited Lot and told him that the cities were going to be destroyed and told him to get his family and leave. His sons-in-law thought he was joking. Lot lingered and the angels actually had to take their hands and lead them out of the city. Lot, his wife and two daughters ran to the city of Zoar. “…the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind her, and she became a pillar of salt.”

The command by God, was simple “Do not look behind you…” (v. 17) But yet Lot’s wife turned her head and looked back. Was she reluctant to leave? Why do you think she turned back? I am sure when God destroyed those cities there was a lot of noise from the inhabitants and the actual fire that destroyed them. Was she just wanting to see what was happening? Was she remembering the friends she had that lived in her city? Was she thinking of all she had left behind? No matter what she was thinking, she disobeyed God. She was reluctant to leave. Her destruction was sudden. Nothing was left of her but a mineral heap. She was calcified and stuck right there, with no future.

 So, what can we learn from this? There are so many lessons we can take from this. I want to center on the fact that God does not want us stuck in our past but rather onward to our future! The verse we started out with in Luke, represents Lot’s wife as those who are attached to earthly things, those whose hearts are still in this world. Like Lot’s wife, such people will perish.

I have heard so many people say, before covid and after covid. People are stuck back in how they want things in this world to be, but we will never go back to before we had the crippling disease of covid. There are so many things that we can look back and keep ourselves stuck in past times. Maybe, you are like me and your mate has passed away, you wish you could change things you said to them or how you treated them-your child has grown up and has left home, you are at a crossroad of what to do now-you have had financial failure and want to go back and do things differently-your health has gotten worse because of bad choices you have made in your past-you have gotten older and cannot live the busy life you use to, you feel insignificant-you remember a time in history when there were not so many mass shootings and the fear out in the world today was not present. You look back to happier times, times of laughter, times of prosperity, a time you could get up in the morning and not feel painful.

We all look back and remember better times, but you can also look back and see that now, you are in a better place in your life-a better season. We can remember and use our past to propel us into the future! We can remember and use those mistakes we made to make a better future for ourselves and others! We can remember and help others- “…go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) Second Corinthians 1:4 tells us that we can comfort those who have had the same struggles, just like God has comforted us when we go thru them. We can use our past, instead of being stuck there, to help others and make a brighter future for ourselves!

In a way, I can understand Lot’s wife. If my home was on fire, I would look at it and remember all the THINGS that were being burned up by the fire. But if my God would have told me to not look back, I hope I would have had the strength to not look back! Otherwise, I would be stuck in the past, like she was.

We can be haunted by the past or we can learn from it and go towards our future! Lot’s wife was not allowed that option. Some people are like her and just stay stuck. My husband was like that. During those ten years he was mentally and physically sick, he was stuck in his past. He blamed himself for our financial troubles, because of his illness. He became severely depressed because of this blame, which he put on himself. He did not remember the things of the past, when he was a preacher, elder, deacon, or leader in Boy Scouts. He did not remember the positives in his life or all the people who he had touched, from his past. He only looked at his physical handicaps and what we had lost, supposedly because of himself. He remained in that, stuck in the past handicap for the rest of his life. How sad! I tried so many ways and times to get him to realize that he should not be stuck in those past “failures” and that he still had a life to live, just in a different way. But not me-others-therapy could get him to become “unstuck” from those negative thoughts of his past.

So, what is the main point we can learn from “Remember Lot’s wife” in Luke 17? Do not let yourself be stuck in your past failures or wishes that you could go back! Sure, when I look back at my past, there are so many happenings-failures I wish I could go back and change. But I do not dwell on them in such a way that I cannot go into my future! I am not by any means perfect but have tried to learn from the past and live the rest of my life in service for the Lord, using the past to help (especially women) others to know that there is hope and they are not alone in their earthly struggles.

Paul in Philippians 3:13-14 tells us, “…forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul is one of those who could get stuck in his past. He had sought out and killed so many people who were serving the Lord. But yet he learned from those past atrocities and became a warrior for the Lord. He did not look back and become stuck. Rather he looked forward to his future, in which he could serve God and would be with the Lord one day in heaven.

When you are driving you cannot look back all the time or you are going to run into someone or something. You will be hurt! So, take heart- “remember Lot’s wife” and do not look back. She became a pillar of salt, forever in a pile of remembrances. Don’t become stuck in your past. It is human to look back and feel the pain, but don’t stay stuck there. Rather, learn from your past, and look forward, like Paul did to a better future knowing you are headed to heaven one day to be with the Lord! Respect the past, with eyes towards your future!

God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11-13, that He has a hopeful future for us. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

A pillar of salt. What a way to be remembered!

Till next time!                                                          Keela