Faith in Adversity — E.A. Johnston

The Woman with the Issue of Blood in Mark 5

We are in our series Lessons in Faith, and today we're in our lesson Faith and Adversity. In Mark's Gospel, we find the account of the woman with the issue of blood. In chapter 5, beginning in verse 25, we read,.

And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, And had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, But rather grew worse. Let me pause here to say, friends, Here is a very sick woman, whose health is gone, Her money is all gone, and her patience has flat run out, To where her only hope is in Jesus.

Human Failure and Hope in Jesus

She heard that Jesus was out healing folks in a certain place, And she needed to be healed. Man couldn't do it, but she knew God could, So she exercises her faith to get to Jesus. When she had heard of Jesus, It came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

For she said, If I may touch Buddha's clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway, the fountain of her blood was dried up, And she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. In her adversity, she exercises faith.

Her faith energizes her to press through a crowd to get to Jesus. She had a big faith because she saw a big God, And she needed a big miracle. Her faith activated her to place her hope in Christ alone.

Christ’s Healing Power and the Channel of Faith

And her faith motivated her to reach out her hand, To touch the hem of his garment, All the while believing he is able to accomplish all things, Including a miraculous healing. Jesus tells her that it was her faith that was the channel Where her blessing flowed.

Christ's healing power flowed through the clear, clean, Unobstructed channel of her faith. Jesus said to her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. Faith is leaning on Christ in adversity, And believing God can do what man cannot.