One Sunday during a church service a young woman asked me to pray for her, then she looked me straight in the eyes and said, “I feel so unnoticed by God, as though He doesn’t even care about what’s going on in my life.” Have you ever felt that way? Perhaps you’re going through a difficult season right now and wonder, “God, where are You? Do You see what I’m going through? Do You care?”
I’m sure that the crippled woman in Luke 13, who came into the crowded synagogue where Jesus was teaching, had wondered the same thing thousands of times. She “had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years,” was bent completely forward, and could not straighten up. She was someone whom others avoided. I imagine she felt completely unnoticed and alone. Yet in the midst of that crowd, Jesus somehow noticed her and called her forward. Just imagine seeing that little, bent-over lady moving slowly toward Jesus, the crowd parting, and then Him saying to her, “Woman, you are free from your infirmity.” When He touched her, she immediately stood up straight for the first time in nearly two decades. After looking down all those years, the first face she saw in this upright position was the face of her God.
She had felt invisible, uncared for, with the identity of being crippled. But Jesus saw her and called her “a daughter of Abraham,” a precious daughter of the covenant promise who needed and deserved His compassion and love. He saw His covenant of love with her. He saw a promised agreement that couldn’t be broken. When He set her free that day, I’m sure everyone was stunned.
I believe that I’m writing to somebody today who’s bent down under a heavy load. The enemy has worked overtime to keep you looking down at your difficulties. He doesn’t want you to hear the call of Jesus to come and receive His touch and see His face. You may not have even realized that you’re a son or a daughter of promise and that God has already spoken the Word and set you free.
Don’t allow anything to keep you bent over and bound up, because “whom the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36). You are free today! You’ve been bought with a great price. You are a joint heir with Jesus Christ. You have a covenant between you and God just as that woman had. The enemy cannot bind you any longer. No matter what situation you’re in right now, no matter how unnoticed you feel, He sees you and He knows you. He’s calling you forward to become everything He created you to be. Stand up straight and look into His wonderful face.