A Crazy Hunch and A High Hope

[Susan Mason]

from He Still Moves Stones by Max Lucado

    

basis for the chapter is Mark 524-34...the story of the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and who reached out and touched the garments of Jesus and was healed.  
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     "We don't know her name, but we know her situation.   Her world was midnight black. Grope-in-the-dark-and-hope-for-help black....She was a bruised reed....'If I can just touch his clothes,' she thinks, 'I will be healed'

     Risky decision.  To touch him, she will have to touch the people.  If one of them recognizes her . . . hello rebuke, good-bye cure.  But what choice does she have?  She has no money, no clout, no friends, no solutions.   All she has is a crazy hunch that Jesus can help and a high hope that He will.

     Maybe that's all you have... a crazy hunch and a high hope.  You have nothing to give.  But you are hurting.  And all you have to offer him is your hurt. 

     If that describes you, note carefully, only one person was commended that day for having faith.  It wasn't a wealthy giver.  It wasn't a loyal follower.  It wasn't an acclaimed teacher.   It was a shame-struck, penniless outcast who clutched onto her hunch that He could and her hope that He would...not a bad definition of faith... A CONVICTION THAT HE CAN AND A HOPE THAT HE WILL. 

....Faith is the belief that God is real and that God is good.  Faith is not a mystical experience or a midnight vision or a voice in the forest . . . it is a choice to believe that the One who made it all hasn't left it all and that He still sends light into shadows and responds to gestures of faith.

     ....Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want.  Faith is the belief that God will do what is right.

    A healthy lady never would have appreciated the power of a touch of the hem of his robe.  But this woman was sick . . . andwhen her dilemma met his dedication, a miracle occurred.

     Her part in the healing was very small.  All she did was extend her arm through the crowd.  ....What's important is not the form of the effort but the fact of the effort.  The fact is, she did something.

     ....Healing begins when we do something.  Healing begins when we reach out.  Healing starts when we take a step.

     God's help is near and always available, but it is only given to those who seek it....with that small, courageous gesture (her touch), she experienced Jesus' tender power.