When We Fall…

A few years ago I was talking to one of my young adults who was  going through some hard times.  She couldn’t understand how to overcome and conquer a huge issue she had.  She had gone to visit a Christian School she was thinking of attending.  During her visit there, a speaker addressed something to those in attendance that she believed was awesome.  He had said to his audience that in the seasons of life when they need a break through, God doesn’t need them to do anything and that He will cause them to rise.  He used Proverbs 24:16 to support his theory where it says,

“for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again,
but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”

As she talked to me about how she was encouraged by his message and that in her struggle she needed to do nothing, I had to correct her point of view in the matter.  I pointed out to her the intention in the text; the righteous one is not just sitting.  He or she “is” active during these moments of life.  The righteous one has to do something and it’s something easier said than done.  He or she has to…keep getting up every time they are knocked down.

How important is it to be so determined to get up after so many falls?  There is a woman in the Bible whose experience displays a perfect example of how the refusal to stay down brings about the healing needed in a very hopeless season of life.  As we go through this heartbreaking story I want us to look at how this woman got up every time she was knocked down.  She realized that the only way for her to get her breakthrough would be to go against the world view and instead follow her heart.

This woman’s experience is recorded in three of the four Gospels of the New Testament.  The books of Matthew, Mark and Luke share a handful of events which occurred during Jesus’ ministry; the woman with the issue of blood is one of them.  Her story is covered specifically in Matthew 9:18-22, Mark 5:21-34 and Luke 8:40-48.  I will use all three accounts to better give you a better perspective of her story.

A Cycle of Disappointment

There was a woman whose menstrual cycle continued for 12 years non-stop (sorry men.  Stay with me).  While most women only have theirs for about 7 days she bled constantly with no relief.  For these 12 years she paid doctors in hopes that they would give her something that would stop the blood.  Sadly, nothing worked.  Now please understand that this woman’s condition was not treated the same as it would be in today’s time.  Her condition made her, according to her culture, unclean.  In that time, when a woman was on her cycle, she needed to be isolated and was not allowed to touch people, or they would be considered unclean as well.  She was not allowed to be with anyone until her time of the month was complete.  She couldn’t go to places of worship like others and could not sit on anything without it being marked as unclean—chair, bed, stool etc.  She was totally isolated from people except from her occasional doctor visit.  Since this woman was battling her condition for 12 years, it’s possible that she was not married or that her husband was no longer around.  Also, this means that she had no children within these years.   If she had any before her condition she would not have been allowed around them.  So her condition was not just a physical thing, but a social issue as well.

The story really starts for us when we read that she has used up all her money on doctors and remedies and knows that all hope of her getting healed through them was gone.  She was going to die, and she knew it.  She would die alone, penniless, husbandless and childless.  She couldn’t live like this one more day.  The Bible says in Luke 8:40 that “Jesus was returning.”   This was not her first chance to go to him, but for whatever the reason, when He came the last time her determination to see him wasn’t great enough.  Maybe there was a chance that she was going to get better so she probably thought: why push through that crowd when the doctors reassured me that the medicine could work?  This time though, she had to do something.  Her last resort came when she heard the commotion not too far away and a crowd gathering.   She came to the conclusion that maybe if she could just touch the hem of His robe it would be enough to do something.

The very idea of her attempting this act would put everyone at risk.  All around her would be considered unclean, even Jesus.  The question remained, how would she even get close to Jesus with that mob surrounding him?  The crowd had formed around Him because he was going to help someone else. The only thing that was going to get her to Jesus was her determination.  It did not matter what her body was saying, how many people were in the crowd, or what society said was her place.  The possible repercussion of going into the crowd did not matter to her anymore.  She was going to fight for her healing.

Look at Luke 8: 43 and 44

 ⁴³ And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. ⁴⁴ She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased.  

Don’t Miss The Struggle

We can miss the struggle that this woman went through just because of the simplicity of the explanation.  This crowd was so intense that Luke 8:19 says that his family could not get to him due to the intensity of the crowd.    In fact, by the time the woman with the issue of blood tried to reach Him the crowd became more massive because it says in verse 42,

“…As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.”

So please do not underestimate the power of this crowd.  This woman in her weak, drained, frail state pushed her way from the back of the crowd to the front where Jesus was.   I remember when I was at a youth convention and very pregnant with my first daughter.   I was trying to go to my seat while the teens were running to the front for worship. They didn’t care about who was in front of them.  They were pushing me and elbowing me just so that they could reach the front.  It wasn’t until I had to push them back aggressively to avoid getting injured that they finally moved out of my way.  I can’t say that I didn’t injure one of them, but I was not about to be trampled and risk hurting my baby.

Crowds are not thoughtful.  They will elbow, trample, punch and kick you to follow the group.  In a crowd there can be no real leader and no one takes the blame for anything.  Sometimes it’s not even their fault—you just get trapped among them and have no choice but to follow.  It is an understatement to say that this woman was stepped on, kicked and most of all knocked down especially in her weakened condition.  I wonder what her thoughts were as she may have tried her first time to get through and was knocked down.  Was she on the floor watching the crowd walk away before she got up to try again?  Did she wonder to herself, “Can I really do this?  This is impossible?  Should I keep going?”

She got up and got up and got up and got up and got up until her last fall placed her at the hem of Jesus’ garment, which was at his feet, right where she needed to be.    It was this woman’s determination not to stay down when kicked and stepped on that caused Jesus to stop walking and ask, “Who touched me?”  His disciples, looked and said to Him in response,

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” Mark 5:31

The question was ridiculous. Yet Jesus was not talking about touch as in physical, but a spiritual touch.  This woman never put her hands on Him, but on His hem.  Spiritually she touched Jesus’ heart.  Her determination, her fight, her perseverance, her unwillingness to not stay down made the heavens stop and made a crowd stand still.

A righteous man falls 7 times, but the truth is that they must rise to the occasion 8 times.  There are times when God is just asking us to get back up.  This woman had the issue of blood, but what is your issue?  Are you in a place where you feel like you are desperate for some change and you can’t go one more day like this?  Have you been going through the motions, depending on your money and others to get you through this season of your life and nothing is getting better?  Well it’s time to go against what everyone tells you and go after Jesus.  However, before you do, know that it won’t be easy.  Your fight may start at a moment you are already tired and drained from being beaten up and knocked down in life.  Sadly, this woman had to get to the end of herself and money in order to follow after Jesus and maybe God is waiting for you to be drained and tired of those fruitless things you keep relying on as well.
Here are few things that can help you stay focused:

1. You will have to press pass the pain to get what you want.
2. Just because others seem to be closer to God physically it doesn’t mean they are touching his heart. Don’t let other people’s position with God discourage you from pressing in closer to Him yourself.
3. It is your true faith that will bring healing to your situation. When Jesus looked at the woman he said,

“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” Mark 5:34

Sometimes, the very thing you need that shows you who you are and gets you to be who you need to be already exist inside you and your struggle is what God uses to bring it to the surface.  But, it will always require a determination to get back up again.

Weekly Challenge:

I think it would be nice to journal thoughts this week.  What are somethings that you need to be determined about?  Take this week and think about that you need to change and what that is going to take.  What are the things you have to let go off that is giving you false hope?  Write these things down and start looking for some scriptures that back up what you are aiming for.

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