The Woman with the Issue of Blood

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Have you ever heard the phrase – that’s about as good as it’s going to get? Maybe you’re cooking a new dish, and it’s not perfect. You’re trying but you don’t get to 100%. Eventually you resign yourself to the outcome, while thinking to yourself – well, this is as good as it’s going to get. And for some situations, this statement is perfectly acceptable. But for others, it’s quite limiting.

Depending on the topic, I have sometimes wondered – what determines our limits when we say it’s as good as it’s going to get? Why can’t the outcomes be better? Do I have to be tied to results that are wrapped in human logic? Most importantly, where is the “God factor” in all of this? Did He confirm that this is the final outcome, or did I? As a Christian, one of our greatest tools is faith. Without practice, however, we’ll remain novices in our Christian walk. We’ll keep choosing to be satisfied with “as good as it gets”, defaulting to our own logic over divine intercession. Once we arrive at this way of thinking, we start to lose our connection with God. We cannot believe that He is and also believe that God has limits; these two statements are in direct conflict with one another.

The Woman with the Issue of Blood

As I kept pondering this topic of God and limits, the story of the woman with the issue of blood came to mind. In Mark 5:25-26 we read about her situation:

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.

For 12 years this woman tried, but to no avail. What if she thought – I’ve knocked on every door and found no solution. I will have to live with this for the rest of my life. I guess this is as good as it gets. If that was her mantra, she would have never been healed. Instead, when she heard about Jesus, she knew that He could do something no one else could. I know this to be true because in verse 34 the scriptures read: And He [Jesus] said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

Faith in Action

12 years of failure was no match for this woman’s faith. For some, such a situation might cause us to doubt God. But for her, she understood what we need to understand today: God’s divine power knows no limits. You don’t need a 30-minute conversation with God for Him to deliver. You don’t have to convince Him of the depths of your pain. Instead, you have to believe with all of your heart that God can do exactly what it is you ask Him to do, and then… you have to be courageous and step out on faith.

You see, it wasn’t enough that the woman with the issue of blood had faith. She had to exercise it too in order to be healed. Sometimes we’re so scared of God not showing up, that without even realizing it, we begin to temper what it is that we ask of Him. Boldness is replaced with logic, as we measure God’s willingness to respond with His perceived timeliness. If He doesn’t move “soon enough”, we wonder if He will move at all. As we look back to the story of the woman with the issue of blood, I don’t know if she previously prayed about her struggle. But I do know this, the length of our pain doesn’t diminish the chances of our recovery. With God, deliverance is always an option.

The Mystique of God’s Deliverance

It’s important however, to keep in mind that deliverance isn’t predicated on us seeing all of the steps. Like the criminal on the cross who said to Jesus in Luke 23:42, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”, we have to trust in God’s power more than we trust in our current circumstances. It’s Satan’s ploy to have our mindsets tied to this world. We see what human eyes can see, forgetting that our faith is electric. No matter the size of the mountain, our faith in God will deliver the impossible with ease. Darkness should never be the reason we give up on God.

If we take a step back and really think about God, do we really believe He created this world and the entire universe. If so, how difficult could it really be for God to answer our prayers. I’m always comforted in knowing that our heavy work is God’s light work. Many times, He has already answered our prayers before we know that we’ve been delivered. Don’t let the lack of immediate results make you doubt the outcome.

Faith Without Limits

When I go to the throne in prayer, I feel as though I have access to something special and unexplainable because… I do. We all do. Unfortunately, religion has asked us to temper those emotions, as if miracles are confined to the past, and God’s supernatural abilities are only reserved for spiritualism or occult worship. Such thinking reminds me of Gideon. When faced with the attacks from the Midianites, the Angel of the Lord visited Gideon to tell him that God was with him, but Gideon wasn’t so sure. In his response, he said:

O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about… Judges 6:13

Well, He’s right here. God and His miracles haven’t gone anywhere, but sometimes, we have. As I take personal inventory of my own walk with God, I’m realizing how far I’ve drifted away from believing in God’s ability to deliver. I’ve started to accept what life has given me, to the point that I’ve relied less on God and more on the constructs of this world.  

Such thinking is why the woman with the issue of blood matters so much. She reminds us that there are no limits to what God can do when we exercise our faith in Him. She shows us what trust looks like in the face of situations that most would say are beyond deliverance. Most importantly, she demonstrates the value in being courageous, and stepping out in faith. God shows up when we show up – He honors our choices for better or for worse. I pray as we face each day, that we give God the chance to honor our faith. #GodBless #LovesAnAction