Throughout your Christian life you will run across all kinds of obstacles trying to keep you from the Lord, as well as challenges to separate you from Him. You need to fight through them all to get close and stay close to God Almighty.
So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against Him. A woman suffering from bleeding for 12 years had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse. Having heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His robe. For she said, “If I can just touch His robes, I’ll be made well!” Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was cured of her affliction. At once Jesus realized in Himself that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My robes?” His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing against You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” (Mk 5:24-31)
After doing a little medical research into the type of condition that this woman had, I have discovered that she most likely was pretty sick. Her long time bleeding would have made her so anemic that she could have been perpetually tired, listless, unable to sleep, not able to stand easily, have a rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, a constant headache, and many other issues. On top of her natural health issues, the treatments she received made her even worse (Mk 5:26). So there is no telling how sick and weak she had become. In addition to her physical problems, she was bankrupt from all the medical bills (Mk 5:26). I think it is safe to say that she was a mess physically, financially broke, and very likely depressed.
Some of us, or maybe even most of us have been sick or been injured, at least once, to the point where it is difficult to get out of bed. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for this woman after 12 years of suffering? Even though she was in a horrendous place in her life, she dragged herself out and went searching for the Lord. She overcame her internal obstacles of a sick and weak body as well as emotional baggage and went to get near Him. Then when she found Him, she had to overcome another huge obstacle – the crowd. This was not a calm orderly crowd; it was a large, disorderly, pushing, and shoving crowd that was nearly crushing the Lord (Mk 5:24; Lk 8:42). The response from the disciples gives you a better idea of the craziness around the Lord: “You see the people crowding against you, and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” This was a frenzied crowd and it stood between this woman and her Lord. So what did she do?
As weak as she was and as bad as she felt, she fought her way through this unruly crowd. Making your way through a crowd is difficult for a healthy person. How much more difficult was it for a weak sickly woman? It didn’t matter to this woman; the crowd was not going to stop her. She was going to get through it to be near Jesus no matter what it took. For all we know it took her hours and every bit of strength in her – BUT SHE DID IT!
Staying focused on and close to the Lord is a daily battle for Christians. Throughout your day the world, life, your sin nature, and the enemy will war against you to pull or keep your attention off Him. Your mind will be too cluttered to think about Him, you will get too busy to pray or read the Bible, or you will be distracted by the things of this world. Sadly this even happens to Christ-followers. But Scripture says, “let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” (Heb 12:1-2)
The woman in this passage overcame every internal and external roadblock to get close to the Lord Jesus. Be like her. Fight through all obstacles that try to separate you, or keep you, from God. Fight to stay close to the Lord!
Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! (1 Chr 16:11)
Key points
- There will be many external and internal obstacles preventing you from getting close to the Lord
- You must fight through those obstacles no matter how difficult it is
- Take your inspiration from the woman who was bleeding that fought through all kinds of internal and external obstacles to get near to Jesus
Think about it…
Are you willing to fight all obstacles to get close to and stay close to the Lord?
What obstacles keep you from the Lord, or separate you from Him?
What keeps you from thinking about Him? Serving Him? Obeying Him?
What can you do to get around or through those obstacles?
What keeps you from reading the Bible? Praying?
What can you do to get around or through them?
Are there people or situations in your life that keep you apart from Him, or try to separate you from Him? How can you fix that? Do you want to fix it?
Are there people or things in your life that distract you away from God so much that you don’t even think about Him or have Him in mind? Is that something you can fix? How?
What things do you need to fight through to get and stay close to Jesus?
