Just a string…

If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be healed. Mark 5:28

She’d been to doctor after doctor.  She’d seen everyone she could think of seeing but her pain never went away, her condition never got better.  As a matter of fact with every passing day, it seemed that she felt worse!  She was tired, in pain, had no energy, and was at the end of her rope. 

Then one day she saw Jesus walking in the crowd and knew in her heart of hearts that this is where her healing would come from.  No more faith in the doctors. No more looking for the quick fix.  She knew that the only place she could go was to the source of all healing – Jesus.  So she made her way to him and just touched the frayed end of his coat.  In that instant she felt relief!  She was better.  No more pain.  She wasn’t tired anymore.  She had energy that she hadn’t felt in years.  And it was all because she touched a simple string – a string that dangled from the end of his robe. 

Where do you put your hope?  Is it in the next greatest thing?  The new gadget?  Your job?  Your doctor?  Your health? Your popularity? Your family? Your bank account?  Or do you put your hope in a little string? 

Sure enough, the woman didn’t have faith in the string itself, but in the one who was wearing the string.  Even though she was at the end of her rope she knew that all she had to do was touch that little string and her rope would quit unraveling. 

Is your rope unraveling today?  Are you out on a limb and feel like everything you say and do is cutting a little more of that limb away?  God is calling you back to him right now.  He’s offering you more than a little string – he’s offering you his son.  He knows that life gets messy so he promised to love us in spite of the messes we make.  He knows that times get hard and he promises to be right beside us in the middle of every moment – good and bad.

Don’t grasp for straws.  Don’t look for the easy way out.  Look for the string.  See the frayed end of Jesus’ coat.  Know that it’s there for you. 

Father in heaven, we often find ourselves at the end of our rope.  We have nowhere to turn and everything we try seems to fall apart and make the situation worse.  Show us that string so that we can just touch that simple string and feel the same healing that this woman felt.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen