By Steven Gledhill for FREEdom from MEdom Project
“Why don’t we trust God?” Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.” Faith comes from hope being realized in substance according to the evidence. We don’t see gravity but we experience gravity all the time. We know the truth about gravity and come to trust it even though we do not see it. It could be said that we have a relationship with gravity. Our lives are touched by gravity everyday.
So, what is it to truly trust God? What is it to experience the substance and the evidence that leads to knowledge of what is true? We don’t trust in what we don’t know. We trust in what we know, even when we cannot see what we know by experience to be true. We experience what we don’t see all the time; therefore we know it’s real. While we learn to trust in what we do not see, we put our faith in what we know by experience to be true.
When we don’t trust God it’s because we don’t really know God. You know, we don’t see wind either but we see and experience evidence of it. The howling of the wind that we hear is not actually the wind but the obstruction that is resistant to the wind. If we moved in harmony with the wind we would not hear it. God in a way is like the wind wanting to have impact on our lives by experience. When we resist the wind that is God we will hear the howling of our resistance in our circumstances that prove so dissatisfying. When we’re moving with God, we will hear God but the circumstances of our lives won’t be so loud. The more we know God the more we’ll trust Him, and the more confidence we’ll have when we communicate with Him—and the less we will resist His influence in our life experiences. Then we will experience the wonderful life benefits of our faith.
A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately the bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” Luke 8:43-48 (NLT)
This sick woman had a serious problem. She desperately needed help. She believed Jesus Christ had the power to heal her body. She believed Christ could radically improve her circumstance. As Jesus walked through her town amidst the crowd, this woman battled her way through. Just as it seemed the moment was passing her by, she reached out to Jesus and missed him as he passed. She whiffed, barely clipping the hem at the fringe of his robe. Her heart sank. But in a split second, the woman went from that devastating sinking feeling to knowing absolutely that she had been delivered from severe affliction. Jesus blessed her with his power even when he wasn’t actually paying attention to her.
Jesus experienced it as well as he sought out the one determined to receive from him what he so lovingly desired to give. Something changed. Now the woman, formerly living in the shame of being and feeling unclean, was hoping to slip away in obscurity. Perhaps this little miracle would remain between her and God. But Jesus, loving her, wanted to know her and went looking for her; asking for her. He was fervent in finding her and he did find her. Touched by his healing power (the evidence), the woman then met Jesus, personally, and then was touched by his compassion and love (the substance). She began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. Now that’s a love story of faith in relationship with Christ.
We can have difficulty trusting Jesus in relationship with him because we do not see him. When we imagine what he looks like, we might picture him suffering on a cross reminding us of our shame. According to Scripture, though, we are free from our shame and Jesus is on his throne as God in full glory wanting relationship with us. To visualize what he looks like, read Revelation 1. Even as a man with human limitations, Jesus “inadvertently” healed a woman who touched only his clothing. Jesus walked in the authority of his Father.
Jesus is no longer a man in one place at one time walking the earth. Jesus is God roaming the universe while dwelling in the hearts and lives of all that know him. 
Do you really know him who stands at the door of your heart knocking (Revelation 3:20)? He knows you’re home and he’d love to come in and spend time with you. Have you really let him in—all the way in where he can hang out with you, experientially? Are you experiencing God in your life? What is the evidence of your experience with Jesus? Do you experience the substance of what you hope for? Do you reach out with the determination to touch Jesus? Have you experienced in your life the touch of God?
Jesus loves you! Go after him fervently. He’s fervently looking for you. Scripture tells us that he responds to fervent prayer. Go after God, telling him what you want until you receive from him. The woman in the Bible fought against substantial opposition to get to Jesus. The sick woman never gave up as she pursued him until she got what she wanted—what she needed only from him.
Jesus is your Sympathetic Savior. He knows you and sympathizes with your discomfort (Hebrews 4:14-16). He is paying special attention to you. You cannot sneak up on him. But sometimes things get in the way and try to prevent you from touching Christ with your prayers. How badly do want what God has for you? What do you believe about God, really? Go after it. Go after him until he turns to ask the angels, “Who touched me?” And the angel says, “Are you kidding? There’s so much commotion everywhere! How can you ask, ‘Who touched me’?” And then Jesus says, “I have felt compassion and love as power has left me because someone deliberately came looking for me.” Be confident that Jesus loves you and loves to bless you from his abundant wealth—the resources of heaven. All that is his is yours. Do you believe it? Do you want it? You have direct access to God through Jesus Christ. Pursue him fervently. After all, you can bet that he is pursuing you.
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