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 we 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 want 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 that 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 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
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