Jesus was having a busy day.  Returning to His base in Capernaum, He was mobbed by crowds eager to see Him.  Just then, the synagogue ruler, Jairus, made a scene in front of everybody by begging Jesus to help his dying daughter (Luke 8:41-42).  As Jairus started to lead Jesus to his house, the crowd was so large that the road was blocked ahead of them: would Jesus fail to reach the girl in time to save her life?

Crushed by the crowd, a woman with severe menstrual bleeding pushed through the throng of people and the disciples surrounding Jesus.  She reached out her hand in faith to touch the bottom of His coat, and then melted back into the crowd.  Matthew tells us that she said to herself that if she could only touch Jesus’ cloak, she would be healed (Matthew 9:21).  There were so many people pressing around Jesus that the woman was not noticed.  

But Jesus knew immediately that His power had healed somebody who believed in Him; so He asked who it was.  Of course, He knew who it was, but He wanted to test the reactions of the disciples and also to encourage the woman to confess her faith (Romans 10:10).  The disciples were rather bemused by His question and thought that the massed throng of people was an adequate answer as everybody was jostling to get near to the Master.  This was all new to His trainee apostles, who had yet to experience the powerful realities of ministry for themselves, and to know when God was at work.

But what might they have learned so far that day?  Firstly, Jesus was never in a hurry: He was so in harmony with God's purposes and timing that He was never late for any appointment.  Secondly, no apparent obstruction can upset God's timetable; indeed, He weaves all the difficulties into blessings for those who trust Him (Romans 8:28).  Thirdly, nobody in need is turned away from Jesus: a previously critical religious official was as welcome as a ceremonially unclean woman without anyone to help her.  And there was still more to come that day!  If the disciples had been learning properly (disciple means 'learner') they would have been both awed and comforted by Jesus' ability to get everything right at just the right time.  2,000 years later, have we learned those lessons yet?  Or are we still nervously almost expecting that Jesus will forget; be too busy elsewhere; not know how important things are and fail to be on time. That does not sound much like faith.  So, if you are like that, stop now to remind yourself that God knows everything, will exercise His power in response to faith, and He will never be late in bringing blessing.  Trust Him – He is God!