| 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, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. |
| —Mark 5:25-28, 34 KJV |
In our current culture, we use the word, “issues” in an entirely different manner than it was used historically. To us it means “negative circumstances or questions.” In the passage above, the word referred to a “discharge from the body.”
Nevertheless, I see a very real parallel between this Biblical story and current usage. We certainly deal with “issues” in our lives. Some wear us down, as the discharge of blood did this woman. Some make us physically sick, financially vulnerable, heart-wounded, grief-stricken, scared, lonely, hopeless, etc.
With what “issues” are we dealing with today? Have we strained to reach out to Christ, who has power over all the woes of our lives and can help us make sense, or at least cope with all that happens?
The use of the word, “spent” in this story also speaks to me. The woman had spent all she had. And, even the doctors had come to the end of their solutions. As an old hymn states:1
When we have exhausted
our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed
ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end
of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
