Deliverance

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,[a] but no one could heal her. 44She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. Luke 8:43-44

We are all very familiar with this story. What an amazing healing after 12 years of pain and bondage! We meet this woman at the end of her long struggle. However, I believe the preceding 12 years truly tell the story. At times on her journey of healing this moment, standing face to face with her healer must have seemed worlds away. Was her healing simply in this moment? Or, had a sovereign God been preparing her for this encounter for all those years that she felt left alone? Had this passage read ‘a woman had suffered from bleeding for the past 5 minutes’ this healing would not have been so remarkable.

45"Who touched me?" Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you."

46But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me."

47Then 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 8:45-47

I find it quite strange that the reaction to this apparent deliverance was fear and insecurity! She was just set free from 12 years of suffering! Where is the jumping up and down? Should she not be dancing in the streets? Yet, we find her trembling in fear, afraid that she will be discovered. I would suggest that her deliverance was still another word away! God had something more in mind for this woman than to stop her bleeding, He wished to reach her suffering heart, to speak something of himself to her and to declare her identity in Him.

48Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."

He called her daughter! That was the deliverance! This was the healing that started for her 12 years earlier. All the times over these 12 years that this woman had felt abandoned, alone, and rejected her Dad was at work for her good. He was orchestrating this scene! He had brought her to the end of all she knew, so that stripped of all else she could hear the tender, loving, and powerful voice of her dad proclaiming that she was HIS. A woman who entered this story broken, despised, and alone encounters her healer in her greatest weakness and it was here that God spoke life to her wounded heart! She came to him nothing and left a daughter of the King… a princess! Now that’s deliverance!!! Oh yeah, and her bleeding stop…

Never let Go

I played in a softball game the other day and on my way back to my car after the game I noticed a woman screaming at her daughter for not unlocking her door in a timely manner. This woman was truly enraged by what to most would seem so trivial. I do not think this woman is any more evil than any of us; her brokenness is simply controlling her life and actions. She is struggling to cope with her pain and tragically the amazing woman God created her to be is masked. This woman is a total stranger to me and I know nothing of her past, but I am willing to bet that her growing up was filled with anger and volatility and now her daughter will grow up much the same.


Let me back up a moment and tell you a little about what had been going on in my heart prior to noticing this exchange between a parent and child. As I was driving to the game I was listening to a David Crowder song called Never Let Go, the song speaks of God’s faithfulness and firm grip on our lives. I love this song and have heard it countless times; however in this moment I knew God was speaking to my heart something new. Back up even earlier in my day and I was reading a book that was speaking of the brokenness in our lives and our natural coping mechanisms. The author described how we can become damaging to the people around us and not even realize our action since we are functioning from a point of survival and our grip with reality is blurred by our own pain.


So, let’s return to the scene in the parking lot, this woman was painting a clear picture of the authors warning about our survival patterns. Reality would say that a child not unlocking the door quickly enough is not something to get angry about, however through the filter of her own damaged life that reality was lost. And this is what God was speaking to me through the song that I was moved by on the way to the game. He was faithful to not let go of me in my brokenness! That should be me; I should be lost in my world of coping and be leaving a legacy of damage and destruction. Yet, God in His amazing love and grace rescued me! He brought me the greatest blessings I could have ever hoped for, he brought me to reality! And what were the blessings that He used to bring about such healing? It was losing everything that I held on to for comfort, it was a few years of the greatest pain I have ever walked through. I will spare you the details, but the last few years of my life have been a bit of a roller coaster ride. Yet, I am more thankful to God for bringing me face to face with my pain than any other gift He has given me! God is not cruel; He does not bring the pain for its own sake! I already had the pain in my life; however, it was hidden in my world of survival!


I have prayed since the moment I knew I would be a dad that I would pass on a new legacy to my children, I didn’t fully know what that prayer meant, but I am starting to see the path God needed to take me down to answer that prayer. He needed to heal my pain! We often walk through a season of pain, failure, and struggle only to feel that God has abandoned us or worse yet that He is punishing us for not measuring up. This could not be further from the truth; we serve a God that will never let go of us! He is always working for our good. God had no other choice than to strip me bare in order that I might find Him as He really is, and it is here in reality that life becomes a passionate pursuit of Him that pursued us. I have tasted and seen that He is good and I am hungry for more! And this will be the legacy that I will pass on to my children! Run after God for He is more than you can ever imagine Him to be!