Desperation Demands a Different Approach

“And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,

but no one could heal her.

She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak,

and immediately her bleeding stopped.

 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said,

“Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had

touched him and how she had been instantly healed.

Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

Luke 8:43-48

 

 

How do you call out to God?

Do you kneel in the same spot every day, fold your hands and bow your head?

Is that the wrong way to call out to God?

Of course not!

But…Sometimes desperation demands a different approach.

Ask the woman with the issue of blood.

You will find nowhere in the Old Testament where the Children of Israel were instructed to approach God in the way that she did.

But…Sometimes desperation demands a different approach.

As a matter of fact, the opposite is closer to the truth.

Because she had a bleeding issue, the law required that she should not be touching anyone.

But…Sometimes desperation demands a different approach.

So let me rephrase my first question.

Are you desperate enough to push through the crowd of conformance to touch, by faith, the hem of Jesus’ garment?

In another posting we spoke of the Centurion seeing Jesus in a

way others, up to that point, had not seen Him.

Sometimes situations and circumstances can present us with no other options.

Either we kneel quietly, bow our heads, fold our hands and pray like we have a thousand other times or, like the woman in our story today we say, in essence, whatever it takes I am going to touch Jesus.

Some shouted, some begged, some pressed through a crowd, some broke up a roof and let down a friend, some caused Jesus to marvel at their faith.

Most didn’t follow the ‘decorum’ of the day.

Each touched Jesus.

Because…Sometimes desperation demands a different approach!