as many as touched Him were restored

Mark 6:30-56

But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

This sections starts and ends with the crowds running to Jesus and His great compassion for them. Even though Jesus intended to go away with His disciples for a rest, He was driven with the compassion He had towards His people. He could not turn away from them, and He healed and fed them.

Part of His plan for the disciples, and for us it seems, is to love His people with the deep compassion and passion as He did. But also to grasp and rely on God's power within us. We give up too soon, sense the impossible, even when God fully intends to do the miraculous. I wonder why God does so little in our midst, but do I trust Him for the bigger things? I think to myself, yes, it is foolish that the disciples were amazed that Jesus walked on water after He just fed 5,000 men plus their families with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread, but am I any different? Is not my heart just as dull as theirs?

And He went up into the boat with them, and the wind ceased (sank to rest as if exhausted by its own beating). And they were astonished exceedingly, beyond measure, for they failed to consider or understand the teaching and meaning of the miracle of the loaves; in fact their hearts had grown callous and had become dull and had lost the power of understanding.

All this action, Lord, can be distracting. It seems what You are really trying to tell us is that You adore us, love us with such tenderness, in fact, that you cannot turn away from our pain and need. But we don't trust You. You did all this because You wanted us to believe and trust You. And I don't enough.

And wherever He came into villages or cities or the country, they would lay the sick in the marketplaces and beg Him that they might touch even the fringe of His outer garment, and as many as touched Him were restored to health.

Beloved, You created universes from Your spoken word, from the heights of the sky to the depths of the sea, to the microscopic parts of our wondrous bodies. Nothing is impossible for You! Allow me to know the difference between the vain imaginations of my own heart, and the truly miraculous that You desire to do with our hands. Help us to run to You, reach out to You, and not be afraid because You Are.