This morning I read the accounts in Mark of Jesus' encounters with Jairus and with the woman who touched His garment to be healed. Both were familiar to me, but I asked the Holy Spirit to teach me something new.
Jesus was not too busy to notice the woman who touched Him. Even in the crowd, He knew her touch was different. Even though He was on his way to heal (raise from the dead) the daughter of Jairus, He had time to give the woman his personal attention. He isn't bound by time. Stopping on His way meant nothing to Him. The woman was healed, however, simply by her faith. She accessed His power before Jesus even saw her or spoke to her!
Our faith can access the power of God. Believing in that power gives us access. There is no formal program or formula or activity necessary. Our relationship to Christ and our standing as a child of God gives us complete access to His power. And His power is as sufficient for a smaller need (the woman's healing) as it is for a huge issue (raising the dead). The power is the same, and it is equally available.
So here is my confession. I don't always live like I believe that. I tend to think my need isn't big enough, or important enough to warrant God's attention or power. God has recently used my daughter to show me how wrong I am about that. When she was presented with the opportunity to go on this mission trip to Latvia, we all knew it was of God. There was no hesitation on her part, or on ours, that this was God's will. We knew that it would be expensive, and we knew that God would provide. But in my own mind, that provision meant that He would help us work our finances and make the sacrifices necessary to pay for her trip.
I didn't think our need was important enough for his provision. Truly, I didn't. I had heard the stories of people in our church who had been called to go on mission and wanted to obey that call but knew that they could never pay for the trip. I had heard how God had provided supernaturally for those needs. But for some reason, I didn't think we "met the criteria". After all, my husband has a good job. He knew that by the time the trip came around, he would be able to manipulate our budget to pay for her trip. I knew my parents had offered to help. And they have helped tremendously, but even with their help, we would have had a huge amount to cover. I figured that God would provide by allowing us to work it out.
But God provided in ways we never imagined. He has provided through people we would have never expected. He has provided though people whose names we don't even know. As of today, a $1700+ trip is almost completely covered. We have not paid a penny of it. God did not allow us to adjust our finances. He provided completely outside of our finances.
See, I didn't think we were worthy of His miraculous provision. I didn't think our smaller need was as worthy of His notice as someone's bigger need. I didn't think He would notice our "touch" in the crowd. I didn't think He would take the time to stop for our need when He was on His way to take care of much bigger needs. But Jesus isn't bound by time. He doesn't measure our "need" the way we do. And His desire is to provide for us beyond what we can ask or imagine. My faith is not nearly big enough, but it is much bigger today than it was a couple of months ago. My God, however, is as big as ever.
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