The advent of the computer has made many changes in our lives. Some are good and some are bad. We've all heard of the electronic day trader in Atlanta who made a desperate gamble day trading and lost several hundred thousand dollars. In his despair he then killed his wife and children and several people where he conducted his day trading. This man needed deliverance from desperation corner.

Financial losses and incurable sickness can put good people at Desperation Corner. Our Bible story is about a lady who was driven to desperation Corner by a incurable health problem. She discovered a creative way to touch God and turn her crisis into a victorious deliverance?" God wants us to know that at Desperation Corner we choose either to lie down and die or take a desperate gamble for life. (Read Mark 5:25-34 )

I. Incurable Health Problems Leave us Stuck at Desperation Corner.
We've all known someone medical science called hopeless. Someone in whom the flame of hope is extinguished. 2000 years ago four factors kept this lady stuck at desperation Corner.

1. Twelve years of chronic hemorrhaging stranded this unknown woman at Desperation Corner. How do you live with twelve years of chronic hemorrhaging? Imagine twelve years of being anemic, tired, run down and dealing with this yucky problem.

2. Twelve years of abusive health care kept this lady stuck at Desperation Corner. "Suffered many things at the hands of many physicians." The Greek definition of suffer means "to undergo evils" "to be afflicted."

If this were to happen today, there would be many lawsuits pending. This woman was battered psychologically by male practitioners. She was assaulted and violated physically over that twelve year period. She is desperate for healing, grasping at any straw, willing to suffer any indignity for relief from her problem. At Desperation Corner we either lie down and die or spend our last ounce of energy on a desperate gamble for life.

3. Twelve years of medical bills kept her stuck at Desperation Corner. "And had spent all of the things which she had" She spent all her savings and lost her jewelry to the pawn shop. Next her house, furniture and fixtures were sold. Of what value is money and things if you don't have health? When death stares you in the face, money and things lose their importance and you risk everything on a desperate gamble for life.

4. No known cure kept her stuck at Desperation Corner. Her Health Was Still Deteriorating "She had suffered much from many doctors through the years, and had become poor from paying them, and was no better, but in fact was worse." Mark 5:26 Weaker, weaker, weaker was the result of twelve years of believing, "This next one will have the answer."

Life is like the seasons of nature. After the cold of winter passes, a bud appears and blossoms. All it takes is one bud, one blossom to help us believe that the cold won't last forever and that spring and summer are on their way. For the Lady in Jesus day, it was a long cold, cloudy winter. For twelve years the buds of hope froze and fell to the cold ground.

Desperation Corner raises four painful questions .

1. How many times can a person be disappointed and still try again?
2. How many times can a person be knocked to the ground, kicked in the teeth, and get up smiling and take another run at life?
3. How many months of continuous crisis can we endure before they take us away in a straight jacket?
4. How long will we camp at desperation Corner before we step outside our comfortable, traditional solutions and try something creative and gutsy?

At Desperation Corner flowers never blossom and we either lie down and die or spend our last ounce of energy on one last desperate gamble for life. The lady in our story hit bottom and she said, enough is enough!

It's exciting to see what happens when we declare, enough is enough! We can either be carried from Desperation Corner in a box or we can get out of bed and hobble from there with our last breath of life to Jesus. WOW! Watch the creative possibilities surface when we stop, look and listen for a God inspired solution to our desperate problem.

This lady said, "I refuse to lie down and die. I'll spend my last ounce of energy on a creative gamble for life." Ultimately there are two people who can get you unstuck from Desperation Corner, yourself and God.

II. Desperation Corner Often Motivates us to Gamble on Jesus.
"She had heard about the wonderful miracles Jesus did, and that is why she came up behind him through the crowd. "For she thought to herself, "If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed." (Mark 5:27 ,28)

1. Her crisis tempted her to try one more health recommendation. For twelve years she had acted on friends hear say evidence. Many people would say she was the salesman's sucker. When you are desperate you may try anything, even a visit to Jesus. Remember, her next logical step was to lie down and die.

2. Her crises led her to creative thinking "For she thought to herself, if I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed." (Mark 5:27 ,28) So much of the time creative thought appears irrational. "If I could just touch the clothes he is wearing...."

Voices in her head likely said, "Lady, if it was that simple, everyone in the crowd would be healed." "Lady, rational people don't act on impulse." "Lady, get a hold of yourself and start thinking rationally." "Lady, don't you know life doesn't work like that?" "What right do you have to ask Almighty God to heal you?" "The reason you're sick is because you or your parents sinned."

Many of us have seen the picture of Jesus the Good Shepherd carrying home the little lamb that strayed from the fold. Do you think that when He found the lost lamb he broke its leg before hoisting the lamb over his shoulder? Do you think he said, "I'm going to teach you a lesson so that you will never run away from the fold again?"

I grew up with that distorted picture of my Heavenly Father. I had this dumb idea that if I was not good, God would hurt me. I did a lot of Christian service out of a fear based motivation. That's an unhealthy way to grow up.

I remember the day I was standing at the fence surrounding the Penhold Air Base watching the yellow Harvards takeoff and land. My big question was, "Would I join the air force or go to Bible College?" I made a good decision motivated by an unhealthy, unholy fear. I was afraid that if I didn't answer God's call to go to college, I would crash and die in a yellow Harvard training plane. What kind of a God was I going to serve?

In our first year of ministry our first daughter was born. We were proud, happy parents. What was my illogical, unscriptural fear in those days? I feared something would happen to my baby to punish me for my pride. That's not what my Heavenly Father is like.

In Jesus day many people would have told this lady, "You're being punished for your sin," This terrible idea comes from a faulty understanding of the word chasten. We equate it with discipline which we equate with severe physical punishment.

The word chasten means instruction, nurture, to educate, education or training; by implication, disciplinary correction is involved. I disciplined my children but I didn't break their legs nor give them cancer. Its a big lie of Satan that our Heavenly Father act like that.

The second problem we have is confusing consequences with correction. The natural consequences of unhealthy eating, stressful living, lack of exercise and neglect of Biblical meditation may be heart disease.

God does not inflict disease upon us, it comes as a direct consequence of our actions and indirectly from the Devil who comes to steal, kill and destroy. The last message a sick, desperate person needs is the false message that God is mad at them.

In spite of all the negative messages this lady received she was determined to touch Jesus. It was a very irrational, very impulsive act, but it worked. When you're stuck at Desperation Corner for twelve long years of winter never, experiencing a single spring or summer. You don't care if your friends think you are irrational or impulsive.

If there is one chance in a million you will be made whole, you go for it. Creativity says, "This prophet has healed others, why not me?" "Yes, why not me?" "I reject all the negative messages friends gave me about why I'll die on Desperation Corner because there is no reason in the world why Jesus won't touch me."

God inspired possibility thinking motivated this lady to get up, get dressed and walk away from Desperation Corner. With the words, "Why not me" ringing in her ears she pushed and shoved her way through the crowd toward Jesus.

The possibilities in the words, "Why not me," propelled her forward until she touched Jesus clothes and instantly she was made whole. At Desperation Corner we either lie down and die or spend our last ounce of energy on a desperate gamble for life.

Conclusion.
Go home, look in the mirror and ask yourself this simple question, "Why not me?" Jesus healed and saved others, "Why not me?" During the past 2000 years millions have been delivered from Desperation Corner, "Why not me?" Since Jesus is still in the business of responding to the simple, irrational, impulsive acts of faith, why wouldn't He heal me?

"Is your faith as great as a mustard seed,
Or do doubts assail as you pray and plead?
Are there mountains of fear so tall and grim;
That you feel can't even be moved by Him?
Is your mountain grief for a loved one gone;
So poignant and deep that you can't see the dawn?
Is your mountain fear that an only son,
Has strayed from the path he was taught to run?
Only believe and your mountain so tall
Will fade in His love to nothing at all."
(Author Unknown)

At Desperation Corner we either lie down and die or spend our last ounce of energy on a desperate gamble for life and cry out, "Jesus help me."