A Conversation With A Sick Woman

This conversation is not a long conversation but it teaches us two things:

(1) HOW WE CAN LIVE A LIFE OF HOPELESSNESS

(2) HOW WE CAN LIVE A LIFE OF HOPE

We live in a society today where many are living a HOPELESS LIFE.

Illus: In 1983, on the coast of Virginia, a ship sank and took the lives of thirty-one sailors. This ship sank because an eight-ton anchor came loose and battered the hull of the ship until the ship went down. What is tragic about this accident is that the ship was destroyed by its own anchor.

This makes us think of so many today whose lives are sinking in despair due to the anchors they have placed their trust in.

For example:

(1) SOME PEOPLE SEE EDUCATION AS THE ANCHOR TO PLACE THEIR TRUST IN

Only a fool would be against education. But we are fooling ourselves if we think education is the answer to all of our problems. Some of the biggest corporate crooks in this country are educated by some of the finest educational institutions in the world.

(2) SOME PEOPLE SEE MATERIAL THINGS AS THE ANCHOR TO PLACE THEIR TRUST IN

In the bible we read about Solomon, who had everything a man in this life could dream of having, yet he cried out repeatedly, “All is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

We live in a society that is filled with people, that if you pin them down, they will tell you that life to them also is “Vanity and vexation of spirit”

There are a lot of depressed people, because they are living each day with NO HOPE of life getting any better.

Many feel like the program that once was on television called, “Hee Haw,” that stated weekly, “If I didn’t have bad luck, I would have no luck at all!”

Illus: Someone said, "Sure, I live in the past. It's about the only thing I have to look forward to!" (Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).

Illus: I like what Claire Booth said years ago, "There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown hopeless about them." (Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).

Let us look at HOPE in three ways:

I. WHEN HOPE IS LOST

We can see this so clearly in the life of the sick woman who came to Christ. We see all hope in her life is gone.

Look at Mark 5:25-26, we read, “And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.”

This woman knew a great deal about living a life of hopelessness. She had a serious health problem, and she tried every physician she knew, but the Bible said she steadily grew worse.

The reason she grew worse could be for two reasons:

(1) SHE MAY HAVE GONE TO SOME BAD DOCTORS

We can all be thankful for the good doctors that practice medicine because they want to help people in their sick conditions. If you have such a family doctor, you ought to tell him how much you appreciate his concern for your health.

But when it comes to doctors, they are like all other professions:

• You can find good ministers and you can find bad ministers

• You can find good lawyers and you can find bad lawyers

• You can find good carpenters and you can find bad carpenters

• You can find good plumbers and you can find bad plumbers

• You can find good electricians and you can find bad electricians

AND YOU CAN FIND GOOD DOCTORS AND YOU CAN FIND BAD DOCTORS.

A bad doctor is someone that has chosen to be a doctor because they feel that once they have a license to practice medicine, it is a license for them to prey on those in our society that are sick and helpless, and they take this opportunity to rob them and their insurance company of every penny they can get.

Illus: Someone said, “That is the reason some of them wear a mask when they are doing surgery.”

They might wear the best clothes, live in the nicest homes, and drive the best cars, but it makes you wonder how some can live with themselves knowing how they have taken advantage of sick people who came to them for help, BUT ALL THEY GOT WAS A BAD DOCTOR!

There are such doctors today, and you can imagine how bad it is going to be as they stand before the Lord and give account of taking advantage of SICK PEOPLE.

They may smile on the way to the bank now, but they will not be smiling when they stand before the Lord and give account for the evil they have committed.