Matthew 9:22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.

There are various supernatural things at work here. We focus on the healing itself, but there was more. Luke, as a physician, was very interested in this story, and he records that the crowd almost crushed Jesus, (Luke 8:42) but He still knew when the woman touched His garment, because power had gone out from Him. (Luke 8:46) That was actually no less miraculous than the healing itself. Jesus ack­nowledged that the woman’s faith had been the instrument of her healing, but it was His own openness to Holy Spirit that allowed Him to know what was happening beyond what normal senses would have told Him. I am reminded from time to time that while in His physical body Jesus rarely if ever exercised His power as the Son of God, but rather relied on Holy Spirit, Who came on Him at the time of His baptism by John. (Matthew 3:16) That same Holy Spirit has been poured out on believers ever since Pentecost, which is why Jesus could say, just before His crucifixion, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12) The vast majority of believers operate in only a fraction of the power and authority that are available to them, but we are blinded by our experiences to this point and our resulting lack of faith. I think it’s analogous to how a Neanderthal would have reacted to someone touching a switch (which they might not even notice) and the room being flooded with light. We take that for granted, and indeed are frustrated if the light doesn’t come on, but it would have been totally outside of the Neanderthal’s frame of reference. The longer we walk with the Lord the more we come to expect things the world considers “supernatural,” but most of us have a long way to grow in that area!

Growing up in a household of faith I have a real advantage in this area, but I still had little exposure to things that would be labeled supernatural. Thankfully, that has grown over the years. In terms of perception, such as Jesus knowing He had been touched, my wife has had such experiences so many times that we have actually had people leave the church, afraid of what would be revealed to her about them. That has happened so often that we sometimes laugh about it. She is amazingly aware of earthquakes, for example, including one in Italy several years ago, when we live in Japan! She recognizes hurts in people’s hearts, sometimes only to pray about them but often to speak amazingly appropriate words of encouragement and comfort. I have seen that God works in each of His children differently, but He doesn’t want us to be limited to the material, the physical. Those things are finite and flawed, but His power is infinite and perfect! As I already said, I’ve got a long way to grow in this area, but I’m sharply aware that it will be totally fulfilled when I am with my Lord in heaven, and I look forward to that eagerly.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You also for the physical, material things You enabled me to do over the past two days, tearing up some weak flooring and replacing it with fresh wood. I was certainly reminded that I don’t have the same body I had 25 years ago when we built this building! I ask Your healing for my various aches and pains from that, and wisdom as we put down the fresh cushion floor tomorrow, that the result will be fully attractive to all who enter. May I be a good steward of both the natural and the supernatural, so that Your purposes may be accomplished on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!