In this last lesson on women who struggle, I have chosen a woman with health issues. Little is said about the illness of women in scripture, but we know there was physical suffering just as there is today.
In Matthew 9, we find a woman who had been struggling with a discharge of blood for twelve years. Mark 5 says that she “had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse” (Mark 5:26 ESV).
The Jews considered her unclean because of this continuous bleeding. This meant she was not allowed in the temple, and that made her unable to participate in public worship to God. Whoever touched her would become unclean. Whoever touched anything she touched would also be unclean.
When someone was declared unclean, they had to go through the priest to be declared clean. There were certain requirements necessary to be allowed back in society.
Jesus was on His way to heal the daughter of Jairus. This man was a ruler, and he came to Jesus and worshipped Him. There was a crowd of people following them through the streets, and this woman with the blood disease followed behind Jairus and Jesus. Her plan was to touch Jesus’ garment, not to stop Him and plead for healing.
She did not want to risk touching any part of His person for fear of making Him unclean. She believed so strongly that He could heal her that she wanted only to touch His clothes.
She was successful. She touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, and immediately she was healed. Imagine the joy she felt knowing that this terrible disease was gone and all that remained was a period of purification and a visit to the priest.
Of course, Jesus is not here with us performing miracles of healing; and no man is able to perform miracles to heal us from our infirmities today. So how do we deal with the heart issues, cancer, disabilities, mental illness, and all the other types of illness we suffer?
The answer is right here in this story of the woman with the blood disease. It is faith. Look at what Jesus said to her. “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (Mark 5:34).
I don’t mean by that they we will be healed as this woman was. This is how we deal with the illnesses that we all must endure. Our faith will sustain us because of our acceptance that such is life.
When Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, she brought sin into the world. She also brought illness and death. We can’t escape it. It is inevitable. No matter how good we are, we will experience death unless the Lord comes before we die.
I don’t know how those who do not believe in God can survive sickness and death without faith in a higher power. When we look at other examples, we see how much a part faith played in the lives of those who dealt with serious illness and death.
Think about King David. When God told him his child would die, he still turned to God in prayer.
When the woman in our lesson today was healed, someone came from the house of Jairus to tell him that his daughter was dead. Jesus went with him and raised her from the dead. This man had tremendous faith to make the journey to request the Lord’s presence for the healing of his daughter.
Jesus healed people who had faith, and He healed people who expressed no faith in Him. He healed to prove He was the Son of God. But if you were living during the time Jesus lived on earth, would you make a journey to ask for His help? I suspect most of us would.
Why would you not then avail yourself of the means available to you today to obtain God’s help with your illness? What is available for us when we struggle with sickness? Above the obvious, seeking medical assistance?
• We need to pray. In Matthew 6:5-15, we find the instructions for prayer. Jesus taught His disciples how to pray and for what they needed to pray.
• We need to pray with the right attitude. Read James 4. James talked about those that prayed in the wrong way. The people were resistant to God. They had impure hearts, speaking evil against one another, boasting, and failing to do what they knew was right.
• We need to pray fervently, enthusiastically, with passion. Elijah was a man who prayed with passion (James 5:17-18).
• We need to pray in faith. James 1:6-7 says is speaking of a man who requests wisdom. He says, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.”
• We need to draw ourselves to God. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
• We need to acknowledge that we may need help with our prayers. When we just don’t know what to pray, know that the Christian has the assurance of help through the Holy Spirit. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).
• Finally, we need to expect God’s will to be done. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for God to “remove this cup” (Luke 22:42). His final words in that prayer were, “not my will, but yours, be done.”
If we haven’t learned anything else from our study of these women, we have learned that prayer and a study of God’s Word are the tools for surviving anything this life has to offer.
Remember this. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (I Corinthians 10:13).
Sandra Oliver