Then a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years came behind Jesus and touched the edge of His coat. She was thinking, “If I can just touch His clothes, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw the woman and said, “Be encouraged, dear woman. You are made well because you believed.” And the woman was healed from that moment on. (Matthew 9:20-22)

Ponder It.
How do you struggle with a lack of healing?
What do you expect of God’s healing?
How can you help someone through a time of pain?

Receive It. We live in a world filled with pain. We pray all pain will go away. We pray for healing, because without it, life seems too tough. We can’t imagine continuing to cope with the pain. We read and hear Scripture about healing because of faith. We’re told all we have to do is ask, and we’ll receive, but we don’t always receive what we ask for, especially in the time in which we prefer. We can’t isolate Scriptures. Every word in God’s Word is true, but we have to keep a broad perspective. God keeps every promise, but we can’t take it out of context or demand every promise will be fulfilled in our timing. God’s way and timing is much more important, and in reality, God’s way and timing is really the only way. God’s will will be done.

The woman who had been bleeding for twelve years was healed because of her faith. That doesn’t mean we’re not faithful if we don’t experience healing. That doesn’t mean there’s a magical number of years we must be sick before we’ll be healed. God can heal, and we need to pursue Him, but He won’t heal everyone in every situation. Jesus didn’t heal everyone He could have healed while we was on earth. He did many other things as well. He did what was best in each situation for each person. We don’t have a full understanding of God’s reasons, but we can trust there are eternal implications in everything He does. We can trust God. We need to have faith in what God says, respond in obedience, then trust His provision and timing.

Live It. Place a bandage on your hand for the day as a reminder of God’s perfect healing. He might be working on healing something you didn’t know was causing you pain. He’s likely healing you in other ways of which you’re not aware. Trust Him.