Luke 8:47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
You are Not Hid and Jesus is Not Troubled
All of us know what it is to compete for attention. Maybe you grew up in a large home where there were many seats around a long table, and when dinner was served you had to get what you could while you could or your big brother would eat your share of lunch. Maybe you feel this way in your business or at college. Sometimes we feel this way with God, as if God either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about us. Both of those are false premises. God does know and God does care.
There is a wonderful story in Luke 8 that illustrates this very graphically. Jesus was approached by a man name Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, whose twelve-year-old daughter was about to die. As Jesus was going with Jairus to address his daughter, “the people thronged him.” Then verse 43 says, “And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.”
As He was thronged with people on His way to help Jairus with his urgent need, Jesus did in a moment what the doctors could not do in twelve years. He healed this woman as she touched just the hem of His garment. Now, this woman’s issue was not urgent. Twelve years is not urgent. A twelve-year-old girl about to die is urgent.
If I had been Jairus, I might have felt a little irritated that someone had cut in line when I had been waiting to get Jesus’ attention. But the Bible says, “And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.” The Bible says, “She was not hid.”
There are two things we can learn here for those times when we feel as if we are competing for the Lord’s attention. First, you are not hidden. It is not as if Jesus doesn’t know, or that God is oblivious to your need. There may be a crowd of people, but God is not into performing triage. He is into performing miracles, doing what God alone can do. This woman was not hidden.
Second, God is not troubled. It is not as if He doesn’t know, and it is not as if He doesn’t care. After Jesus healed this woman, a messenger from Jairus’ house came and said, “Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.” Talk about adding insult to injury! First, Jairus had been delayed by this woman who had cut in line, and now his messenger says, “Don’t bother Jesus anymore; it is too late.” But when Jesus heard it, He told Jairus, “Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.”
When it came to this unnamed lady, she was not hidden. When it came to Jairus’ urgent need, Jesus was not troubled. In short, Jesus does care, and Jesus does know. It doesn’t matter how many people are coming to the Lord today for His help and grace, God is not diminished in any amount by your need, your request, or by the other people who may be addressing Him today. You are not hidden, and the Lord is not troubled. Fear not.