Does God Care About Small Problems? One Touch Proved It

Does God care about small problems? Yes. The clearest evidence sits in Mark 5, where a woman convinced her need was too minor to interrupt anyone received the undivided attention of Jesus anyway. She never said a word out loud. She only reached.

If you have ever had a problem you thought was too small to bring to God, you are in familiar company. He is so busy. You do not want to bother Him. That was her exact reasoning, and it was wrong in the best possible way.

There is no better example of worship anywhere in Scripture than what you will find in Mark 5. Worship invites us to find healing.

Two Daughters and One Healer

In Mark 5 we have a story of two daughters and one healer. Two daughters, one chapter, and the same impossible position. Neither of them could wait. Neither of them could solve her own problem. Both of them needed a healer.

The first was an adult woman, sick for a long time. It was not that she had not tried to help herself. She had spent everything she had trying to solve a physical ailment that would not resolve.

The second was a little girl, and she was the reason for the errand in the first place. Her father, Jairus, was a man well positioned. In the argument of the day, he deserved to have Jesus come and see about his sick little girl.

Two very different social positions. One identical need.

Does the Bible Say God Helps Those Who Help Themselves?

No. The Bible never says that. We have borrowed elements from other places and built that statement ourselves, and it has been repeated so often that it sounds like Scripture.

What the Bible actually says is that God helps those who call on His name for help. The woman in Mark 5 is a living example of it. She had exhausted her own resources and her own effort, and she was no better for any of it. What changed her situation was not more self-reliance. It was reaching for Jesus.

Why She Thought She Had to Stay Invisible

Her problem was a hemorrhage, and it created a physical problem and a spiritual one at the same time. The physical burden was obvious. The spiritual burden was almost as heavy, because the condition caused her to be regarded as unclean by the religious leaders of the day. There was no way for her to engage in the worship of the Lord at that point in her life.

Wherever Jesus went, there was a crowd. She knew she would be unlikely to stop Him and call on Him directly. She knew that asking openly would put Him in a difficult spot, since she was unclean. She knew she had no rights, no authority, and no influence that would be enough.

So, she settled on a plan small enough to go unnoticed. If she could just get close enough to touch the hem of His garment, that would do. Not enough to disturb Him. Not enough to make Him unclean. Not enough to create a ruffle that would unsettle anyone else. Just enough to know she had been in His company.

If I can just touch the hem of His robe, that will be enough.

Have you ever wanted to be invisible like that? Have you ever shrunk a real need down to something you thought would not cost anyone anything?

The Moment One Touch Changed Everything

She had heard stories about Jesus healing others. Perhaps she had even met some of them. What we know for certain is that on this day she found herself with an opportunity, the same opportunity you have right now, to be in the company and presence of Jesus. To worship.

We do not know if she was knocked down in the crowd. We do not know if she was lying there waiting for Him the way a beggar would. What we do know is that at just the right time, Jesus passed her, she reached out and touched the edge of His robe, and the healing came.

Then Jesus stopped and said that someone had touched Him.

Imagine how ridiculous that sounded to the apostles. There were roughly a million people touching Him. But Jesus knew there was one. One special touch, because Jesus is a shepherd.

Why Jesus Asked Who Touched Him

Jesus stopped and called for her to identify herself, and it is worth asking why.

It was not because Jesus did not know who she was. He could have called her by name. It was not that He needed to single her out to humiliate or embarrass her. Quite the opposite. Jesus wanted to liberate her.

As long as she carried this issue of blood, people knew. There she goes. She is unclean. Stay away from her. By calling her out and requiring her to identify herself, Jesus was breaking the chain she had worn around her neck for years. He was making her freedom public in the same crowd that had made her shame public.

Where does Jesus need to do that for you?

The Word Jesus Used Instead of Her Diagnosis

She stepped forward weeping. Jesus, I did not mean to bother anybody. I just needed a touch from You. And now that I have had it, I am forever changed.

That is worship. Worship is what happens when you realize how much Jesus has changed you. It is an engagement where the Spirit of God breaks you free from your past and you are free to live in a whole new manner of existence.

Notice what Jesus calls her in Mark 5. Daughter. A term of kinship. A term of connection. A term of endearment and love. For years the crowd had one word for her, and it was unclean. Jesus replaced it with a family word.

We do not know that Jesus touched her, but I like to think He did, that He simply took her by the hand and said, sweetheart, you have a whole new future now, all because of your worship.

Have You Ever Told Jesus to Hurry Up?

Jairus knew that taking an occasion to interview Jesus and ask for His help was a risky move, but desperation drives people to desperate things. Jesus agreed to go with him, and it was on the way that the healing of the first daughter took place.

Imagine how panic stricken Jairus was. Jesus, we have to go. My girl is sick. Hurry up.

Have you ever told Jesus to hurry up? I know I have. Hurry up, Jesus, we are going to be late. When you are walking with Jesus, you are never late, because He is the author of time.

While Jairus stood there listening to Jesus talk with this woman, someone came and told him not to bother Jesus anymore, because his daughter was dead. Imagine the hammer blow that was to his heart and his soul. I do not know if Jesus touched him either, but I like to think Jesus put an arm around his shoulder and said, do not worry, this is not the final word.

What Talitha Koum Actually Means

Jesus walked with Jairus to his home and brushed past the professional mourners already gathered and making a scene. He blew past them with a comment, that she was not dead but only sleeping, knowing they would mock it. Then into a hopeless and dark situation, He stepped in and spoke a single Aramaic phrase. Talitha koum. Little girl, get up.

Some years ago I was at a Toys R Us store, being waited on by a very lovely lady, and I noticed her name badge. Her name was Talitha. I looked at her and said, sweetheart, your name. And with real brokenness she looked back at me and said, it is stupid, isn't it? My mother hung this on me and I will be mad at her until the day I die.

I said, sweetheart, you are thinking about this all wrong. This is a word of liberation. Your mother was trying to free you. Your mother was trying to give you a hope and a promise, just like the little girl who heard it first. I do not know that I made any difference for that lady, but I like to think she heard her own name differently from then on.

Where Worship Meets Your Healing

Little girl, get up. Either Jesus is the meanest person who ever lived, or He is the author of all life. There is no landing spot between those two. If He cannot do this, it is cruel to claim otherwise. If He can and will not, that is cruel too. He walked in, took her by the hand, and raised her back to life.

Because this young woman is not still alive today, we believe she died again. But in that moment, for that daughter, Jesus brought a word of hope.

So, does God care about small problems? Ask the woman who thought the edge of a robe was all she could afford to ask for. Ask the father who was told it was already too late. Neither of them could wait. Neither of them could fix it. Both of them reached for the same healer, and both of them were answered.

Your problem is not too small to bring to Him, and it is not too far gone either. Worship is simply what happens when you reach, when the healing comes, and when you realize you are forever changed.