There are seasons in life when it's all
honey blossoms and sunshine and laughter fills the
air.
Then life comes at you and the sky
darkens and the wind begins to blow and
quite suddenly you find yourself in the storm
of your life.
Some of you may only know the sunshine
and honey blossom time.
Others of you may know what it's like
to experience both, which come from the providence
of God.
The unseen hand moves in mysterious ways his
wonders to perform.
When Joseph was still among his brethren he
wore a coat of many colors and he
was the apple of his father's eye and
he even dreamed that each of his family
bowed to him but he never dreamed that
his rosy circumstances would suddenly change when his
own kin turned on him and disposed of
him.
He never dreamed he would be snatched from
the comforts of his home and his father's
loving gaze to be thrown into a cold
pit and a prison from which he could
not extricate himself.
When Moses and the Jews were trapped at
the Red Sea and their backs were against
the rocks and the Egyptian armies were fast
approaching and Moses himself couldn't hire a ship
or wrangle a way to get them across
that water.
They were entirely shut up to God for
deliverance.
Have you ever been there friend?
Do you know what it's like to have
all your human resources evaporate and your friends
desert you and the walls cave in upon
you?
Well, if you do then you know what
it's like to be entirely cast upon your
God when the storm is unleashing its fury
down upon your head and the seas are
quickly flowing into your ship and it all
begins to sink and all you can do
is close your eyes and pray because you
have entered the place when God is your
only hope.
And that's the title of my message this
evening friends.
When God is your only hope.
My text can be found in Matthew's Gospel
in chapter 9.
You can turn in your Bibles there now
friends.
We will be in verses 20 through 22.
Let me read us this familiar passage of
scripture about a woman who had come to
the place in her life when God was
her only hope.
Here now is the Word of God and
may God's Spirit attend the reading of his
holy word.
You know the scene before us friends.
Jesus is confronted by a ruler named Jairus
whose daughter lay dying and Jesus agrees to
follow this man home.
So he and his band of disciples are
making their way through thick crowds who are
pressing upon Jesus both out of their curiosity
and their need.
And along comes a woman who was quite
unnoticed in the crowd.
She'd be unnoticed anywhere.
But she pushes her way through that throng
with determination into that inner circle where the
master is because she is desperate.
Have you ever been there friend?
Have you ever been desperate enough to get
to Jesus?
Well, this woman was.
We read in our text and behold a
woman which was diseased with a issue of
blood 12 years.
Let me pause here friends.
12 years.
Have you ever been in a desperate place
for a long time?
Have you ever been so weary of your
prolonged trial that you know only a miracle
is the only hope you have?
Well, guess what friends?
God is still a God of miracles.
Yes, he is.
Do you believe me?
It's true.
In another gospel it tells us that she
had spent all her money on physicians.
I guess doctors were always expensive, but she'd
not been cured by them and all her
resources were exhausted on them.
She is at the place of desperation.
She needs a miracle and she knows it
and she knows that Jesus is the miracle
working man.
So she must get to him no matter
what.
So here she comes with her arms outstretched
to touch the hem of his garment.
Verse 21 tells us, For she said within
herself, If I may touch his garment, I
shall be whole.
She has no money.
She has no hope.
But she has faith.
She knows that God is her only hope.
How about you friend?
Have you tried everything else to no avail?
Are you exhausted and at the end of
your rope?
Get to Jesus.
Because if you need a miracle, you've come
to the right place because God is still
a miracle working God.
Oh, you better believe that friend.
Go to him in faith and cast yourself
there.
Let your prayers reach out for his garment
tonight.
We see in verse 22, But Jesus turned
him about and when he saw her he
said daughter be of good comfort.
Thy faith hath made thee whole.
And the woman was made whole from that
hour.
When God is your only hope, Then cast
yourself down at his mercy seat and believe
that he not only cares about your friend.
But that he will get you through.
He will bring you through.
When God is your only hope, then rest
in that hope.
Let us pray.