Faith pleases God, right?
Yes and no.
While it’s true that faith pleases God, it’s not true that all faith pleases God.
Faith cannot stand alone, but must be attached to something to be manifested. In other words, faith must have an object. There must be someone or something to have complete trust and confidence in for faith to exist. The object of our faith is Jesus Christ.
Money, possessions and one’s own righteousness are obvious examples of the objects of some people’s faith that would not please God.
In Luke 8:43-48, I think we see an example of the kind of faith that does please God; the kind of faith that recognizes God’s power even when all else fails, faith that sees through circumstances and feels the possibilities, faith that reaches out after hope is gone.
In this case, that kind of faith prompted a response from God.
But we should never confuse an act of God prompted by faith with a faith-caused miracle. Faith can't heal anyone. God may choose to heal someone because of that person’s faith, but the faith didn’t do the healing. God did. Faith doesn’t have power. God does.
In verse 46, Jesus said that He knew power had come out from Him. Was that the woman’s faith He felt? Was it the power of her faith?
Faith isn't a force; it is an attitude of trust which allows you to depend on someone that can do for you what you cannot do for yourself. Faith allows you to go to the source of the power. Faith isn't the power. What Jesus felt was the power of God, flowing through Him and out of Him, healing the woman.
So what does Jesus mean when He says, “your faith has healed you?”
Here’s my opinion: I think He means that the faith of the woman prompted God to act on her behalf. God chose to heal her because of the faith He saw.
