What do you need today? Comfort, care, provision, help, encouragement, hope? Will you take your needs to Jesus — the only one who truly has the answers to the questions of your life?
He is your Comforter, Caregiver, Provider, Helper, Healer, and so much more.
He is the Good Shepherd and you are one of His precious lambs. He is your Abba, Father, and you are His child.
He has promised to never leave or forsake you. Because He is with you, cry out to Him in prayer. When you turn your gaze to Jesus, you will find that He already has His eyes on you. And one look from Jesus changes everything. Because when Jesus sees you, He transforms, empowers, restores, and revives. He is the God who makes things happen.
One day a woman who saw Jesus in a crowd reached out to Him in faith and experienced His look and His power —
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed at that moment.
Matthew 9:20-22 NIV
We learn something from this woman in the fire of our own trial. There are "if-only's" that can discourage us to the point of despair. If only we hadn't done certain things. If only this or that wouldn't have happened. These are the if-only's attached to things that have altered the course of our lives. These are the if-only's that we need to lay at the feet of Jesus in full surrender and ask for His Romans 8:28 promise of power to weave together everything for His glory, no matter how dark the day. This woman could have sat down in her house in despair and poured her heart and soul into the if-only of affliction. And maybe that is where she sat for twelve years.
But not on this day. And she shows us that there is an "if-only" that is the best if-only of all. It is the if-only that attaches itself to God's promises and looks to the Lord for His answer in His time and in His glorious way.
When this woman reached out her hand to touch the cloak of Jesus, we see that Jesus turned and saw her. Oh the powerful look of Jesus in that moment. And oh, what it must have meant to this woman. He saw all the way into her heart. We know this because He said, "Take heart, daughter." "Take heart" in the Greek means to be encouraged. He knew she had been discouraged and He intended a change of heart for her. He also saw her faith. And in that moment He healed her.
There is so much to learn from this event. When we cry out to Jesus, He turns and sees us. He sees all the way into our hearts. He is completely aware of our faith as we express the if-only attached to His promise. And He responds to our overtures toward Him in the crucible of our trial.
There is something more to say in all of this. Because what if God doesn't respond the way we expect or think? In the handling of God's promises, we cannot presume how the Lord is going to answer our prayers. Taking into account the whole counsel of God's Word is important here. We know that "the mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). We also know that the ways and thoughts of God are higher than our ways and thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). That means He doesn't always answer the way we think or respond by doing things in our time and way. His delays, however, are not denials. Charles Haddon Spurgeon has said this about God's ways in our life: "God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart." Jesus truly holds the answers to every question in your life today. Spurgeon also says that "we glorify God when we plead His promises."
Jesus walked the way of Gethsemane and the cross and resurrection, leading to our salvation, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. "In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety…He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.
The Lord hears and responds to your prayers, dear friend. He will turn and see you as He did this woman. He is at work, weaving together things for good and for glory. Wait for Him, look to Him, and flourish in Him.
I look at this beautiful bougainvillea I found out in the desert. It didn't always look like this. It was, at one time, simply a budding flower. But with time, care, and the light of the sun, it became a beautiful, delicate flower.
And so it is with you. You are, according to Ephesians 2:10, "God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
God has a purpose and a plan for your life. He promises.
So look to your Lord today, dear friend, and watch for His tender, caring look and life-transforming work in your life.
Dear Lord, I come to You today for every need in my life. May I touch the hem of Your garment and gaze at Your beauty. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Blessings ♡ Grace
