“A great crowd followed Jesus and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years, and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd, touched his garment for she said, ‘If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.’ And immediately the flow of blood dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my garments?’ His disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, who touched me?’ And he looked around to see who had done it, but the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.'”
– Mark 5:24–34
I just want to pray this one truth from Mark 5:24–34 over you. So let this truth soak in, and then I’m just going to pray it over you like in a sea of urgent need, Jesus stops for you. Huh. You just think about this. This passage, Jesus is actually on the way to heal a girl who’s dying and who’s actually dead. He’s surrounded by all this crowd. All these people. And in this sea of urgent need, which we’ve seen in the gospel of Mark, he’s just constantly surrounded by people in need of healing, need of this, need of this, need of this, need of that. And in this sea of urgent needs, Jesus stops for this woman.
In a sea of urgent need, Jesus stops for you. Let this glorious truth encourage you today.
Mark 5:24–34: Praising God For Providing For Us
And so God, I want to pray that truth over every single person who’s listening right now. Not knowing everything that’s going on in their lives, but that’s the beauty of this truth and the beauty of this story, is that you do know everything that is going on in their lives. And each person who’s listening right now, you know every single thing they are thinking about, every single thing they’re struggling through, every single thing that is heavy on their hearts, every single thing that is keeping them awake at night, that is causing them to toss and turn, every single hurt they have, every single need they have. You know it all.
These Verses Remind Us That Jesus is With Us
And I just pray that over them that they would know that they have your attention, that you are not distant from them. That, Jesus, you are with them. You love them. You look to them, you focus on them. What an awesome thought, even right now as I’m praying, to think that you are listening to me and you know all the things I’m wrestling with, and you know all the things I’m struggling through, and you know all the things that are heavy on my heart and heavy on my mind, you know all those things.
So I just pray that over those who are listening right now, they would know your love in a deeply personal way, in a fresh, personal way in this moment. They would know in a sea of urgent need. They’d think about all the needs in the world, so many needs in the world, to think that you pay attention to the needs of our hearts. You attend to the cares of our souls, to the burdens that we are casting upon you.
Praising Jesus For His Personal Love
So all glory be to your name, oh God, for your personal love for us. Jesus, for dying on the cross. Yes, for the sins of men and women around the world. But for my sins and the sins of those who are listening right now. Each of our sins, all of our sins, that you’ve paid the price for. That you are leading us as our shepherd, and you will lead us to yourself one day. We cannot wait to see your face, to see you face to face, the savior who stooped to die on a cross for us, and who’s stops to care for every single thing we need. Oh, glory be to your name. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
