Read Matt 9:18–38
Mat 9:20-23 And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, (21) for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” (22) Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. Mat 9:27-30 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” (28) When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” (29) Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” (30) And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.”

When we look at these two instances perhaps we ought to feel ashamed because we don’t have faith like these two. We are encouraged to have faith the size of a mustard seed yet we don’t even have faith that big. Perhaps Jesus’ words to his disciples, “O ye of little faith” apply to us. Yet we should be thankful that there is no measurement of faith when it comes to salvation. For there is faith that can work miracles, which also is a gift of God, and there is justifying faith which receives the forgiveness of sins. With this faith there is no measurement other than do you have it or you don’t. You either trust God has saved you for Christ’s sake or you do not.

The miracles recorded here are not given that we might believe in Jesus they are given to strengthen our faith in Jesus. Jesus did these to show who he was and what authority he has. When our prayers aren’t answered the way we would like them to be answered, it isn’t that we don’t have faith or enough faith. It’s simply either not in God’s overall plan or will promote the kingdom of God. Perhaps at times it might be we don’t have enough faith, but not enough is not the same as none at all and that is where it seems we get into trouble in doubting our Savior. We may doubt we have any faith at all. That’s when we need to realize that we are trusting in our faith and not in Jesus.

I also believe that we have these accounts to encourage us to have a greater faith. A greater faith though comes at what I believe is a greater loss. The woman coming to Jesus had nothing to lose. She had lost everything. There just wasn’t anything else she could trust. The blind men were in similar straights. They had nothing also. Perhaps we need to see what are we still holding onto instead of trusting Jesus. What “insurance policies” are we still looking to in case our prayers aren’t answered the way we want them to answered.

So we are called then to trust only Jesus. If we still have eggs in other baskets we may be trusting Jesus, some, but our trust is not only in Him. Jesus is jealous for our faith in him.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us, increase our faith in you, help us to cast aside all other crutches so that you alone will be our Savior in all circumstances. Amen.