“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.” Luke 3:47
The waiting is requiring trust and faith you aren’t sure you have. The intangible part of faith is frightening right now. Not seeing what you are so desperately believing is pushing the limits of the even the deepest faith that has been your stronghold for so long. “Please show me You’re working,” has become a deep, deep cry of your heart. “I need to know this is real,” rings in your mind.
Paths we find ourselves on in this hard, beautiful, rough-edged, and tender life can lead us to lonely places. Like mazes where we’ve gotten ourselves so tangled up there is little hope for escape. The diagnosis, the relationship, the tight spot leave us feeling stranded. Stuck. Scared. Forgotten. Questioning all we’ve known and loved and proclaimed.
In moments like this, our souls long for something tangible. Something we can confirm with our senses. When we become the “ye of little faith” we can be so hard on ourselves for being human and craving confirmation. But, friend, even those who walked the earth at the same time He did longed for tangible.
Luke 8:43 tells of a woman – in a society where she was the lowest of priorities – who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years and had spent “all her living on physicians.” She was desperate because we later read, “she could not be healed by anyone.” She’d found the end of earthly resources and was at her absolute end. She must have heard of this man named Jesus, and while her mind may have believed in Him, she needed to see and touch for herself. In the midst of throngs of people, she made her way to Him. She had to have clawed her way to Jesus because Luke 8:42 says the people were “pressed around Him…”
In her desperation – her sweet, heartbreaking desperation – all she wanted was to touch the hem of His robe. That’s all she needed. Not the face to face “explain all that I don’t understand” encounter we play out in our daydreams. Not even a face to face miracle. She knew she just needed to touch the hem of His garment – the part scrapping the dusty ground. She needed to touch part of Him. And, so she did. With all she had left, she pushed through the crowd, and managed to touch His robe. And that seemingly small act of faith turned out to be not so small after all.
Waiting is hard, friend. Faith in the waiting can feel like to high a bar of expectation. And while He doesn’t walk among us today, we can see – and cling to – the tangibleness of Him in our lives.
Look for a hem you can hold – the goodness He has placed in your life. It may be small, but so was the hem of his robe. Touch the goodness. Remind yourself that it is from Him. Let that sustain you in your waiting.
