What We Reach For in Life - Matters

 

There are two woman who reach for something.  Life happened, choices were made and the results were two completely different outcomes.

The first woman is Eve.  Eve, perfect, never knowing evil, only good and perfect good, was given a new thought, about the fruit on a tree that God had told them not eat.

I am going to give a bit of my introspection... how could Eve really grasp the reality of what Satan was offering her when he encouraged her to eat?  After all she was perfect, had no wrong desires, did not know evil.  She had nothing to compare with what she was about to do.  To her, after the enticing words of the serpent, the fruit looked good to eat and she reached.

She chose to reach.  She reached for what Satan told her God was holding back from her.  She reached for the fruit that looked good to eat.  She reached for something she thought she was lacking.

The other woman, and we don't even know her name, was one who lived with a blood issue for twelve years.  Having this blood hemorrhage would mean she is unclean, continually, all the time.  Which meant she had to stay away from certain places, certain people; she lived life, alone.  She very likely stayed at home and went for water when there would have been no other people besides those who also were unclean.  She stayed home except to search for healing, spending all she had.

As the days slip by, she starts to hear about a man named, Jesus.  She hears about His healings, she hears and somewhere deep inside, she wonders.  She wonders if she has a chance??  We don't have much of where her faith develops, but it does and one day, one day she takes a quiet risk - she goes into the crowd and reaches.

She reaches for Jesus.  She reaches for only the hem of His garment (as some translations say) or His outer garment, thinking if only I can but touch Him I will be healed.  She reaches from behind Him, thinking to then quietly slip away.

Immediately she felt the healing course through her body and also, immediately, Jesus knew.

He turns around and asks, "Who touched Me?"

Now in a crowd, people pushing and shoving, would not Jesus have been touched before?  Yes.  But this time He knew the power within Him, went out. 

The woman, in fear and trembling, came forward.  She took a greater risk and exposed herself.  People knew her story and now she tells Jesus all of it.

And His words to her, "Your faith has made you well", changed her life in deeper ways than even the physical healing she received that day.

Faith.  Faith is believing, reaching for Jesus in our darkness, in the hard of our stories; and believing He is the One who heals.

For her, her issue was healed; but she received a full and complete healing because of her faith.

We can come to Jesus for our physical healing and He often heals.  But the deeper healing comes through our faith.  Our faith in Him, whether the physical piece looks like we want it to or not.

Faith heals us deeply.  Faith heals us where it matters most, within our heart and mind.

These two options are still our today... 

When we're sad and darkness overwhelms us,  we can reach for anything to numb our pain.

When temptation knocks on our door, we can open it; hoping to satisfy the restless and longings we may have.

We can reach for the fruit that looks good, wondering what we're missing out on.  We can reach, controlling what we think looks right.  

This reach was a reach that brought death to Adam and Eve.  This reach opened their world to now know the world of good and evil.  This reach still brings death, death to our souls in ways that destroys, steals, and kills God's life within us; His abundant life.

Or.

We can reach for Jesus, believing in faith that He holds the answers we need.  We can reach for Him for the healing we need in the areas that need it the most, our hearts.  

We can reach for grace to say no to temptation and look to the One who gives us His satisfying truth.

We can claim His words of truth as the darkness, fears and sadness threatens to take us down.

This reach brings life.

And so, just like these two women, we too, have a choice to make in our story and the happenings we walk through.  We can reach for what we think looks good and satisfying in the moment or reach out to the One who is Life and Truth and wants to heal us in deep, deep places where only faith can reach.