“For the Sovereign Lord, who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says: I will bring others, too, besides My people Israel.” (Isaiah 56:8 NLT)
Have you ever felt like an outcast? According to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary an outcast is “one who is cast out by society.” The Jews of Jesus’ day were quick to declare someone “unclean” for any number of reasons. The two examples that come first to mind are lepers and women during their menstrual cycle.
The woman who “had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding,” in Mark 5, who touched Jesus’ robe, was immediately healed. How like Jesus to search her out – “Who touched My robe?” He asked. The crowds were pressing in on Him, but He knew healing virtue had been released by someone’s faith, and He wanted to see who it was.
How could she not want to fall at His feet in worship? How, in His holy compassion, could He not bring her to her feet and embrace her? For twelve years everyone was afraid to touch her, yet here was the Lord of the universe holding her, loving her, filling her with love she’d thought she’d never feel.
David Jeremiah captured the pathos of that moment when he wrote: “In Christ, there are no castaways; in heaven there are no outcasts. We’re included in the grace of Christ. Rejoice today knowing that we are no longer outcasts!” What that healed woman experienced in those precious moments with Jesus is what each of us who have fallen at His holy feet have felt in our own heart and life.
How many of us, sitting on the fringes of society, have longed for acceptance, approval, some measure of recognition that we mattered, that our lives had value, yet instead we’re seeming constantly spurned, ignored, demeaned. Then Jesus passes by and takes notice of us! Dave Harvey nailed it when he wrote: “The gospel brings me explosive news: my search for approval is over. In Christ I already have all the approval I need.“
Those of whom Isaiah wrote had been stripped of everything they deemed worthwhile, including for some, their literal manhood. Of what possible use could they still be? But listen to God’s words through the Prophet: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Be just and fair to all. Do what is right and good, for I am coming soon to rescue you and to display My righteousness among you.’”
Regardless of what’s happened to you, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, relationally, financially, or in any other way, the healing presence of Jesus can heal, restore, deliver, and help you in ways you could never in eternity ever help yourself.
When Jesus forgives, He doesn’t simply make us over again using the same old life, He gives us a brand-new life! We become a brand-new species of being, one that has never existed before! Whatever is in our past is past – never to be remembered against us again. The beauty of a broken past is that Jesus will use our brokenness, our life as an outcast, for our good and His glory.
Jesus never wastes a problem. He will take the things that have transpired in our lives that in our mind have “crippled” us and made us useless and turn them into opportunities to reach others with similar pasts who also feel hopeless. Faith turns tragedy into triumph when we yield our will to His and allow Him to do what only He can do.
Allow Him to wrap you in His loving arms and fill you with Himself. He has a life for you better than anything you’ve ever dared imagine! He specializes in the impossible!
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 