A bottomless well?

Verses: Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?” But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ “And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her came 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 affliction.”

[Mark 5:25-32, NKJV]

Most people have a favourite verse. Mine is Philippians 4:13. But there is another verse, which shakes my spirit every time I read it. That is Mark 5:30. In particular the phrase ‘power had gone out of Him’.

Jesus promised that whatever we ask in His name will be given to us. ‘Therefore I say to You, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.’ (Mark 11:24) This is just one of the many places he talks about praying and receiving from God. But when we think of Jesus’ healing power, we normally think of someone approaching Him, presenting His/Her need for healing and then Jesus responding to their faith with kind words and with His healing power. But the woman in the verses above got the power first and the words later. Her faith turned things the other way round.

It is almost like Jesus in His loving-kindness has put His power in a well that is bottomless. All we need is a bucket of faith tied to a rope of patience. We may draw as much as we need. Given that God’s power is infinite, the possibilities are endless...

But we often see that reality is different. We do not always receive what we ask for. There could be many reasons. James 4:3 says, ‘You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.’ It’s hard to admit that we sometimes ask with the wrong motives. Our loving Father does not want to spoil His children. But we may also ask good things that we really need and God still does not answer. Or so we think.

Based on something I heard in fellowship I have realized that it is wrong to say that God does not answer prayer. A father would not turn his back on a son who asks for something. He will always respond in some way. In the same way God always ANSWERS prayer: either with a ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘wait’. The hardest of these is ‘wait’ because during that time, it looks like He is ‘not answering’. But to everyone who has finally received the answer to their prayer, they realize it was worth the wait.

Those who don’t receive what they ask for, even though they are not ‘asking amiss’, would just have to realize that what they ask for may not be according to His perfect will for them, which is what it best (Romans 8:28). But they can always know that His grace is sufficient for them (Read 2 Cor. 12:7-9)

‘Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.’ (1 John 5:14, 15)

THOUGHT: How big is your bucket of faith? How long is the rope of your patience?