Personal Attention From The Great Physician

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman … came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.
Luke 8:42-44

A doctor’s waiting room. A crowded street. The doctor’s office admits people one by one. Each is a person—with a face, a medical history and a reason for being there.

By contrast, the street can be an impersonal place. People are just as needy, but no one is concerned enough to do anything about those needs.

Jesus was often surrounded by throngs of people, but as Charles Spurgeon explains, Jesus never viewed his audience as a mass of faceless figures.

WALK WITH CHARLES SPURGEON
“Jesus is passing through the crowd to the house of Jairus, to raise the ruler’s dead daughter. But he has so much power and goodness that he works another miracle while on the road.

“It is enough for us, if we have one need set before us, straightway to relieve it; it might even seem unwise to expend our energies by the way.

“Hastening to rescue one, we cannot afford to exhaust our strength upon another in like danger.

“But our Master knows no limit of power or boundary of mission.

“What delightful encouragement this truth gives us!

“If our Lord is so ready to heal the sick and bless the needy, be not slow to put yourself in his way, that he may smile upon you!”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
Cares. The universal experience of those on planet Earth.

Some cares are as persistent as the woman’s 12-year illness. Others are as heartbreaking as Jairus’s dying daughter. But all are within the scope of the Great Physician’s strength and skill.

Touching the hem of his garment in faithful prayer may be the only thing you have strength left to do.

But as the woman in Luke 8 discovered, it’s a touch that won’t go unnoticed.