SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/21/2012 7:20:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Casting
out a Demon
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
7:24-30
Message
of the verses: “24 Jesus got up and
went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He
wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. 25 But after
hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately
came and fell at His feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of the
Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her
daughter. 27 And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied
first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the
dogs." 28 But she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, but even the
dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs." 29 And He said to
her, "Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your
daughter." 30 And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the
bed, the demon having left.”
We have seen in the last couple of
Spiritual Diaries that the Lord Jesus confronted the Scribes and Pharisees who
were teaching that their traditions were more important that the Word of
God. Jesus explained to His disciples
the meaning of the parable that He had told to the Scribes and Pharisees
stating that Truth had to reign over traditions and in doing this he was
showing them that there was no difference between Jews and Gentiles for all are
sinners and in need of a Savior. Now to
show His disciples that what He was teaching them is true they leave and go to
Tyre and Sidon where the Gentiles would be ministered to. “This is the only recorded instance of our
Lord actually leaving Palestine.”
(Warren Wiersbe)
Jesus and His disciples were going
to Tyre and Sidon to get away from the crowds at Capernaum. It was a distance of about 40 miles and it
must have taken them a few days of walking to get there. However even in this land of the Gentles
people had heard of Him, and I suspect that this trip was similar to the trip
that we read about in John Chapter four where Jesus said that He had to go
through Samaria. The reason He said this
was because He had to talk to the woman at the well, and He had to tell her
about her need for the Savior. I have to
believe that everything that Jesus did while on planet earth was planned, for
He said that He was doing the will of the Father, and talking to this
Syrophoenician woman was part of the Father’s plan.
We will see in this section great
faith by this woman and we will see that she overcomes many great obstacles
that were in her way. She must have had
a great love for her daughter along with her faith in Jesus and the two of them
caused her to overcome her obstacles and see her daughter healed by getting rid
of the demon that lived in her.
I want to list some of the obstacles
that this woman faced, and the first one was that she was not a Jew, but a
Gentile. The second was that she was a
woman and not a man, for men dominated in that society. Satan was another obstacle in her path, for
one of his demons had control of her daughter’s life. The disciples of Jesus were another obstacle,
for they wanted to get rid of her right away.
We see that it seems that Jesus was even one of her obstacles, for at
the beginning it looks like He did not want to talk to her.
This woman’s faith was very strong,
and she was determined to receive from Jesus what she wanted, and what she
wanted was worth going after. This story
is also told in the book of Matthew and there we will find more details than
Mark gives. “21 Jesus went away from
there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And a Canaanite
woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy
on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed." 23 But
He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying,
"Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us." 24 But He answered
and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help
me!" 26 And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the
children’s bread and throw it to the dogs." 27 But she said, "Yes,
Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’
table." 28 Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; it
shall be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once.” (Matthew 15:21-28) In verse 22 we see the woman call Jesus “Son
of David,” when she begins to talk to Him, and then in verse 25 we see that the
woman calls Jesus “Lord” and asks Him to help her. The phrase “take the children’s bread and
throw it to the dogs” seems a bit harsh, but Dr. Wiersbe points out that Jesus
is actually saying “the little pet puppies,” something that gives to us new
meaning. The “children were the Jews,
and the little puppies were the Gentiles.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “She accepted her place, she believed His Word, and
she persisted in her plea; and Jesus not only met her need, but commended her
for her faith.” We see in verse 28 that
Jesus said to her “O Woman your faith is great.” Two things are very interesting here and that
is that Jesus only said this about a person’s faith two times in the Scriptures
and both of them were Gentiles. The
other being the Roman centurion in Matthew 8:5-13. The other interesting thing is that Jesus
healed both people from a distance and Dr. Wiersbe points out that this
suggests the spiritual distance between Jews and Gentiles at that time was also
great.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary
on this section with these words: “Great
faith is faith that takes God as His Word and will not let go until God meets
the need. Great faith can lay hold of
even the slightest encouragement and turn it into a fulfilled promise. ‘Lord, increase our faith.’”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: “Lord
increase my faith.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Lord as I desire to abide in You and be taught and used by You I pray
that You will increase my faith that my faith may be as strong as the woman’s
faith was in this story.
Memory
verses for the week: 2Peter 1:1-3:
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and
apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith
of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus
Christ. 2. Grace and peace by multiplied
to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3. seeing that His divine
power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through
the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”
6/21/2012
8:32:25 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment