Get What You Came For

Do you ever leave the grocery store with less than you intended to pick up? Maybe it was too busy for your liking and so you just grabbed a couple of things thinking that you could come back later when it won’t be so hard to get what you need.

It’s not the grocery store’s fault. Everything that you need – everything that you came for is just sitting there on the shelves, ready for you, but you make the decision to go home with less than what you need.

Do you remember the story of the woman who had been ill for twelve years – the one who pushed through a crowd to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, believing that if she could only do that, she would be healed? (Mark 5)

She had come out that day with a specific purpose in mind. She needed to encounter the Healer and she persisted until she had that encounter.

Now here’s my question: Do you suppose that this woman was the only one in the crowd that day who had a need? Unlikely? If you put together a number of people… a crowd of people…there are going to be multiple needs represented. And yet, as recorded in this account, there was only one woman whose need was met. Why?

She had made a plan, had determined in her heart that she was going out into a crowd and that she was going to get to Jesus. It couldn’t have been easy. No doubt she was jostled and bumped along the way. Did the condition that she had, bleeding for twelve years, leave her tired and weak? Wouldn’t it have been easier to just stay at home in bed?

Who would you be in this story? The woman who pushed through until her need was met or someone in the crowd who just went back home in the same condition? No real encounter with Jesus.

Hear me carefully. This isn’t about earning your healing. Nor is it about praying long enough or doing the right things so that your Father takes notice. It is more about having the courage to say,” I have a need” and then to acknowledge that I am completely unable to meet my own need.

Think back to the grocery store. There are the things I need, just sitting on the shelf, waiting for me to pick them up and yet I sometimes leave with less than I need. Maybe I’m in a hurry. Maybe I don’t want someone else to see what is in my cart – don’t want anyone to know what my needs are. Maybe I fear that I won’t have enough in my wallet to cover the cost.

Our Father has provided all that we need. The price has been paid. Shame has been taken care of. Provision is there. We just need to ask.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Phil 4:6)

Ruth