Twelve Long Years

"And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I will be made well." And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'" And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
Mark 5:25-34

There are some really interesting points in this story. Some that are just remarkable and stand-out. I imagine Jesus performed a multitude of miracles and only a selection were included in the four gospels. As John says at the end of his account:

"Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."
John 21:25

We might concluded that there were a fair number of miracles to choose from for the gospel writers. I imagine each one was carefully picked for the particular way they shine a light on the nature of Jesus, of faith, healings and miracles.

What's interesting about this story is the woman's level of faith, especially after twelve years of suffering and exhausting every avenue for her healing. I imagine she prayed a lot. I imagine she probably thought God could heal her at any time if he chose. She probably saw those doctors and physicians as channels of God's grace and healing. And yet she suffered, for twelve years, with no answer to prayer, and totally depleted her bank account in the process.

I imagine that most of us would be pretty disheartened at that point. Especially as her disease made her a social outcast. No support group, probably not much community at all. How easy it would be to feel overlooked by God and utterly depressed. Like you had been hung out to dry. When a new preacher rolled into town with a healing ministry, she might well have been tempted to think 'oh no, not again'. More prayers, elevated hope, and yet more disappointments to come.

But her faith is exactly the opposite of what you might expect. Her faith levels were exceedingly high.

"If I touch even his garments, I will be made well."

Unbelievable. Where did that faith come from? And the nature of it. I'm pretty sure that there's nowhere in Scripture that says you have to touch Jesus to get healed. There's plenty of examples where it doesn't happen that way. Not to mention that he was surrounded by a crowd where loads of people were pressing into him. Presumably without getting healed.

Even though her theology probably wasn't spot-on, her faith was off the scale. There isn't even a hint of doubt in her. I'm pretty sure she had taken a massive risk as well. Ceremonially unclean, yet amongst the people, rubbing up and touching them, risking total public humiliation if she was exposed. She hadn't done this as a whim. It was deliberated, planned, premeditated and must have taken a lot of guts.

What's of particular interest is the way she receives her healing from Jesus. She was completely healed by Jesus without him even knowing it until after the event. She hadn't presented her request, spoken, looked him in the eye... nothing. Faith was the key ingredient. And you might say, the only ingredient, in this story.

I can't think of another story where Jesus heals unknowingly. Every other case sees him presented with a sick person before healing. This story really hones in on the power of faith as it literally is the only thing that healed this woman.

All through the four gospels (and the book of Acts) you see faith and healing go hand-in-hand. You seem to hear the same phrase from Jesus over and over, "Your faith has made you well", "Your faith has healed you" and "In accordance to your faith...". In his home town Jesus was unable to do any mighty miracles because of their lack of faith (Mark 6:4-6). Jesus was unable.

It's tempting to steer away from the subject because our unanswered prayer might be diagnosed as a lack of faith. Which is like rubbing salt into the wound of a difficult situation. But let's not forget that this woman struggled for twelve years and had a remarkable faith. Twelve years. That's a long old time. Perhaps her greatest act of faith was continuing to believe, to press on, hope and take new opportunities and risks after twelve long years of suffering. That's pretty impressive.

It's not Joy vs Discipline

I was in the shower yesterday morning when a thought struck me. About the nature of discipline.

Discipline, you must admit, is absolutely essential for anyone to live a life that pleases God. The very word 'disciple' comes from the root word 'discipline'. And that's exactly what we're called to be. But, when have you ever been able to consistently do anything you didn't want to?

Joy and discipline are inextricably connected. You're disciplined in the areas that you believe lead to greater happiness, and you often enjoy the disciplines themselves. The guys in the gym cranking out their routine every day are there because, underneath the hard work, they love it. They love the gradual transformation of their bodies, and they probably enjoy much of the routine itself. There are hard, difficult days, but they know that their long term joy is routed in overcoming certain obstacles.

And I think the same must be true of the Spiritual Disciplines. We engage with God daily because we love it. Discipline is involved, but it is by no means the main ingredient. Our love of God is. And that leads to great joy.

I was in Bedford a few weeks back in a teaching session by Andrew Wilson. He was talking about the fight for Joy (which he's also taught at Kings previously: The Fight for Joy). One of his points was that we should discover what things increase our joy in the Lord and make a discipline out of them.

Just like the guys in the gym, it probably takes some hard work, perseverance and experimentation to find what really works for us. But when we get the thing going, engaging with God daily, our joy and the love of God are what fuels our efforts.

Work & Conviction

"...looking at the matter in a commonsense way, it does seem that the most likely instrument to do the Lord's work is the man who expects that God will use him, and who goes forth to labour in the strength of that conviction."
p42, The Soul Winner, Charles H. Spurgeon.

"Dear brethren, do be earnest, put your whole souls into the work, or else give it up."
p45, The Soul Winner, Charles H. Spurgeon.

The Pursuit of Holiness (Part 5)

"...let a man once become really holy, even though he has but the slenderest possible ability, he will be a more fit instrument in God's hand than the man of gigantic acquirements, who is not obedient to the divine will, nor clean and pure in the sight of the Lord God Almighty."
p32, The Soul Winner, Charles H. Spurgeon.

"When I listened to Mr George Muller, as he was preaching at Mentone, it was just such an address as might have been given to a Sunday-school by an ordinary teacher, yet I never heard a sermon that did me more good, and more richly profited my soul ... you could not help saying, 'That man not only preaches what he believes, but also what he lives'. In every word he uttered his glorious life of faith seemed to fall upon both ear and heart. I was delighted to sit and listen to him; yet, as for novelty or strength of thought, there was no trace of it in the whole discourse. Holiness was the preacher's force; and you may depend upon it that, if God is to bless us, our strength must line in the same direction."
p32-33, The Soul Winner, Charles H. Spurgeon.

Content with the Seasons

I've been thinking of late: enjoying the season of life that you're in is a very good discipline. You can spend your whole life longing for the next phase, dwelling on the tougher points of your current existence and totally overlook all the good things life is offering right now.

A while back I felt slightly challenged when I was chatting with my wife about how I totally loved the summer, and how the rest of the year kind of sucked. She pointed out that if you only enjoy those summer months, you'll only enjoy about a quarter of your life. She then when on to tell me all the things she loved about autumn, winter and spring. Quite a profound, far reaching point. I've since been enjoying crisp winter days, amazing autumnal colours when all the trees turn red, and spring, when all the flowers and blossom suddenly break out. I had somehow never really noticed any of these before.

"But godliness with contentment is great gain"
1 Timothy 6:6

It's interesting that godliness and contentment is described as gain. Most of our thoughts, longings and strivings are looking forward to seasons where we get something extra. Some sort of life upgrade or bolt-on: a job, promotion, financial security, a spouse, having children, more free time and so on.

And yet this verse is talking about the underlying root of all of these: gain. Contentment and godliness, I imagine, are two incredible sources of joy. They provide the ability to enjoy God and everything he's provided, and you can tap into that whatever stage your life is at.

When you look back at seasons that have now come and gone, you realise that there were many, many good things that God provided and were very enjoyable, that you somehow didn't appreciate to their full extent at the time.

So it leaves you with a few questions: what is it that you're longing for, and what are you overlooking? Will anything other than God satisfy you?

Spurgeon on New Converts

Great quotes from chapter 1 of 'The Soul Winner' by Charles H. Spurgeon.

"It very often happens that the converts that are born in excitement die when the excitement is over. They are like certain insects which are the product of an exceedingly warm day, and die when the sun goes down. Certain converts live like salamanders, in the fire; but they expire at a reasonable temperature."
p9

"The preacher's work is to throw sinners down in utter helplessness, that they may be compelled to look up to Him who alone can help them."
p13

"The proof to you that you have won the man's soul for Jesus is never before you till he has done with himself and his own merits, and has closed in with Christ."
p20

"Great care must be taken that this faith is exercised upon Christ for a complete salvation, and not for part of it. Numbers of persons think that the Lord Jesus is available for the pardon of past sin, but they cannot trust Him for their preservation in the future. They trust for years past, but not for years to come; whereas no such sub-division of salvation is ever spoken of in Scripture as the work of Christ. Either He bore all our sins, or none; and He either saves us once for all, or not at all.
p20

"Is it any wonder that many converts fall away, when, in fact, they were never taught to exercise faith in Jesus for eternal salvation, but only for temporary conversion? A faulty exhibition of Christ begets a faulty faith; and when this pines away in its own imbecility, who is to blame for it? According to their faith so it is unto them: the preacher and professor of a partial faith must unitedly bear the blame of the failure when their poor mutilated trust comes to breakdown."
p21

"True regeneration implants a hatred of all evil; and where one sin is delighted in, the evidence is fatal to a sound hope."
p23

"You may say to yourself, at the close of the service, 'Here is a splendid haul of fish!' Wait a bit. Remember our Saviour's words, 'The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.' Do not number your fishes before they are broiled; nor count your converts before you have tested and tried them. This process may make your work somewhat slow; but then, brethren, it will be sure."
p28

Expenditure

Another thought-provoking quote on finances and materialism...

"Occasionally when a couple cannot make ends meet the problem is that they do not have enough income to support themselves. Most often the problem lies with their expenditure. Rob Parsons writes about his own upbringing:

My father was a postman and my mother a cleaner. We lived in a rented house, and life was simple to say the least. Non-essentials like heating in the bedrooms, fitted carpets, and toilet paper (don't ask!) belong to another world. I didn't eat in a restaurant until I was sixteen. But I had everything I needed in that home, including wise advice from a father who would take me aside regularly and recite to me the words of Mr Micawber from Dickens, David Copperfield: 'Annual Income: twenty shillings; expenditure: nineteen shillings and sixpence - result: happiness. Annual income: twenty shillings; expenditure: twenty shillings and sixpence - result: misery.' A belief in that principle meant that my father was never in debt. You may think that he paid an unacceptable price for that. He never had a holiday away from his own home, or had his own bank account, and he never did get to taste pasta - but I have never known a man so content."

p358, Nicky & Sila Lee, The Marriage Book.
Original quote: p190, Rob Parsons, Loving Against the Odds.