Real Hope: A Call to CourageSample

Courage Doesn’t Always Roar

There are so many stories of courage in scripture – King David fighting Goliath, Moses confronting Pharoah, Gideon facing the armies of Midian, and Ruth leaving her kinsfolk to follow the God of Naomi. But one of my all-time favourites doesn’t always feature in the top 10. It’s the story of the unnamed woman in Mark 5.

This woman had been subject to bleeding for twelve long years. We can only imagine what she went through as everything she tried failed. She had been beaten down by her illness, ‘suffered greatly’ and ultimately lost everything. She had nothing left to give. But then we see her encounter Jesus and reach out to Him, even though the disappointment of this not working might just be too much to bear.

'Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow’ (Mary Anne Radmacher). None of us are very brave on our own. We can’t just generate courage out of thin air, so where does this courage come from? In scripture we read words like ‘do not be afraid, for I am with you’ (Isaiah 41:10, Deuteronomy 31:6). Courage means knowing God is always with us in every step. The woman saw Jesus in the crowd, and seeing Him gave her the courage to reach out. I pray that today we would be reminded that God is with us and have the courage to take a step, even if it is almost imperceptible, in the direction of hope.

Written by LUCY WEIL