“Just then a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years slipped in from behind and lightly touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, ‘If I can just put a finger on his robe, I’ll get well.’ Jesus turned—caught her at it. Then he reassured her: ‘Courage, daughter. You took a risk of faith, and now you’re well.’ The woman was well from then on.”
~Matthew 9:20-22 (Msg).
Re-reading passages like these freshen for us the lucid living reality of Jesus; the Saviour who came to this world to live—as a friend put it recently, a warrior-life, but in a resplendently unique way—succouring us, eternally in and to him.
There are a few things that jump right off the page:
Suffered Long – the Risks are Worth It
This woman had endured her haemorrhaging long enough. If we were her and a renowned healer walked past, what would we do? A touch of his robe is all that is needed surely, if not to claim some of that power for ourselves, perhaps to get his attention—as if to say, “Look at me, Jesus, heal me.”
Notwithstanding those who’ve sought healing a long time and haven’t yet received it, the Lord will not tarry upon such a wish, so long as we fervently keep on seeking him.
When we’ve been around and around and around the mulberry bush so many times our heads have stopped spinning, we know we can take a plunge—and more aptly, we know more implicitly which plunges to take.
This introduces another concept... what risks are viable?
Wise and Foolish Risks
Not all risks are blessed. Some are inherently stupid. We have to have ourselves on our own side. In the context of healing, then, we don’t throw caution to the wind where there’s the risk of physical death, for instance. We can’t see much of God’s will in that.
Risks of faith don’t involve stupidity at all. Indeed, chances are we’ve tried many of the ‘stupid risks’ already—with those we failed! They perhaps had no semblance of ‘good faith’ in them. Where they did, the results told us, “Be patient!”
This Life Now – Living a ‘Risky’ Life of Faith
Praise the Lord, this miraculous Jesus-of-a-life is available today, as fresh as that lived by the haemorrhaging woman. We can doubt this but we shouldn’t. God said he’d never leave us nor forsake us; in faith we believe.
We all must grow adept at taking our risks—those things that the moral courage of God is infusing within our consciences and our conscious thought... those things that our wise advisors are confirming.
He beckons our hearts to these; to seek healing by methods of good faith, not some snake-oil remedy or ‘lucky’ scheme.
And, in this, God is always patient. He is still there, waiting, no matter how many times we spin around that infernal bush of folly.
© 2010 S. J. Wickham.
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