Where can we go from God’s presence? If we fly on the wings of the dawn or settle into the depths of the sea, God is there, His hand, guiding and guarding. He delights in every detail of our lives and has numbered every hair on our head.
What more do we need? We have everything when we have Him.
Even so, we need God’s intervention in our everyday lives. And He is deeply moved by our faith. He moves because of our faith.
Recently on Middays I spoke with Dr. Derek Grier about his book, “When God Stops: Faith that Gets God’s Attention.” He explored several people in scripture who stopped Jesus in His tracks.
In the gospel of Mark, we read about two people whose faith impacted Jesus enough for Him to turn their way and completely change their day. The woman with the issue of blood, and Jairus whose twelve-year old daughter was sick and on the verge of death.
The unnamed woman was considered unclean, was made an outcast because she hemorrhaged and couldn’t find a way to make it stop. She no doubt stayed inside, withered in isolation, and exhausted herself trying to find answers. But one day she’d had enough. She pressed through the crowds regardless of the “rules” and she grabbed ahold of Jesus’ hem. Instantly, she was healed.
Jesus was on His way to heal Jairus’s daughter when this woman interrupted that mission. Jairus could have thrown a fit. He was, after all, a high-ranking official and she was a social outcast. But Jairus stayed in step with Jesus and walked with Him every step of the way. Jairus got his miracle. Jesus healed Jairus’s daughter.
Dr. Grier writes:
Jairus is a classic example of how a humble but steady hand can bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. The unnamed woman is a remarkable example of how far determination and persistence can take us.
Follow Jesus through the gospels and you’ll notice what He finds irresistible: humility, boldness, persistence, and faith.
But we must remember, faith often involves risk, action, and taking steps that might be out of the ordinary for us.
Dr. Grier shared that progress often begins at the end of our comfort zones.
We don’t place our hope in a specific outcome. We place our hope in God. We keep our hearts tender. We live with expectancy. We let God decide. We determine to believe that if He doesn’t answer the way we want Him to in this life, we will see something far greater in the next.
Jesus loves our faith. He’s moved by our humility. He’s inspired by our bold persistence. And He makes sure that anyone who wants to see Him, finds Him. Oh, what a Savior.
Getting God's attentionBut here’s the question: when the Son of Man comes, will He find anyone who still has faith? (Luke 18:8)
