21-08-2016
Matthew 15:21-28
The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
This passage speaks about how we connect with God and the problematic issues that go with hearing the voice of God - the silence of God.
Ezekiel 34:22-24
22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.
Jesus didn't answer the Canaanite woman. Even though it didn't look like it as He was silent, the amazing thing was He was intentionally there for her. He was in Tyre and Sidon to minister to her.
In our contact with Jesus, when God encounters us, we have to take Him as He is in His fullness.
When He comes to us, He is so infinitely powerful that we cannot comprehend it, His Light is so much greater that we cannot see. His super abundance of Light exceeds our own ability to grasp. God exceeds our own intellectual, emotional ability to comprehend.
If we are seeking God in our frustration, even though we think He is not there, He who is infinitely holy is still there.
When Jesus cast out the demon, the boy was cast to the ground.
When Jesus comes, there is silence. We encounter Him for who He is.
In Genesis 3, the serpent was craftier. He wanted Eve to know more stuff, that we are greater than God. Our perception and how we look at God has been diseased. That's what happened to Adam and Eve and to us too. The lens of God was taken away and they die. We look at things and God as distorted and broken.
To us, God seems to be silent. He doesn't appear when we seek Him. Is prayer and devotion too painful to us? The voice of our own rejection and condemnation blocks out the voice of God. Our vision is messed up, filled with intuition.
To the woman, Jesus is healing her. When we seek God and encounter the barriers as we seek Him, we encounter voices that we are familiar with, the voices of our own brokenness.
She encountered the voices of rejection. "Send her away."
Many people are stuck in their prayer life, not experiencing God. Painful things crop up. We have to hang in there. Don't give up. Just show up every day.
We cannot hear God from our emotions and our minds. The spirit is deeper than our five senses. Pray in the Spirit. The Spirit prays and intercedes for us. It generates order despite our disorders. The things are uncomfortable becomes comfortable. Leave it to the Spirit to do it. We don't depend on our mind to focus. It doesn't start with our education, it starts with the Spirit. Be suspicious when we start to get ideas.
In the silence, God is actually doing something. He is doing something far more superior and personal.
It is true that Jesus came for Israel. But God also is a light to the Gentiles too.
If we are just for the promises and principles, we will never truly know God.
Our response is not to argue with God. Appeal to the fact that He is greater and more powerful and merciful.
Yes, claim His Word. But He is more loving than His Word.
Kneel before Him, bow before Him and have mercy on us. Realise that we have no right to say anything and completely surrender to Him. God is drawing us to not just His promises but also He longs for us, His heart yearns for us. We won't know it until we let God do what He wants to do to us. Let it go and He will do more than His promises.
So the woman knelt before Him and said, "Lord, help me." And let God have His way.
Jesus begins to heal and transform her. Against the Pharisees, Jesus always has the last word. But it is brilliant that in this case, she begins to argue her case in her utter surrender to Him. "Even the dogs get the crumbs." She saw that even if she has a little bit of Jesus, a little bit of the Holy Spirit, it is enough.
God wants us to appreciate the little things and build up from there.
Matthew 15:21-28
The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
This passage speaks about how we connect with God and the problematic issues that go with hearing the voice of God - the silence of God.
Ezekiel 34:22-24
22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.
Jesus didn't answer the Canaanite woman. Even though it didn't look like it as He was silent, the amazing thing was He was intentionally there for her. He was in Tyre and Sidon to minister to her.
In our contact with Jesus, when God encounters us, we have to take Him as He is in His fullness.
When He comes to us, He is so infinitely powerful that we cannot comprehend it, His Light is so much greater that we cannot see. His super abundance of Light exceeds our own ability to grasp. God exceeds our own intellectual, emotional ability to comprehend.
If we are seeking God in our frustration, even though we think He is not there, He who is infinitely holy is still there.
When Jesus cast out the demon, the boy was cast to the ground.
When Jesus comes, there is silence. We encounter Him for who He is.
In Genesis 3, the serpent was craftier. He wanted Eve to know more stuff, that we are greater than God. Our perception and how we look at God has been diseased. That's what happened to Adam and Eve and to us too. The lens of God was taken away and they die. We look at things and God as distorted and broken.
To us, God seems to be silent. He doesn't appear when we seek Him. Is prayer and devotion too painful to us? The voice of our own rejection and condemnation blocks out the voice of God. Our vision is messed up, filled with intuition.
To the woman, Jesus is healing her. When we seek God and encounter the barriers as we seek Him, we encounter voices that we are familiar with, the voices of our own brokenness.
She encountered the voices of rejection. "Send her away."
Many people are stuck in their prayer life, not experiencing God. Painful things crop up. We have to hang in there. Don't give up. Just show up every day.
We cannot hear God from our emotions and our minds. The spirit is deeper than our five senses. Pray in the Spirit. The Spirit prays and intercedes for us. It generates order despite our disorders. The things are uncomfortable becomes comfortable. Leave it to the Spirit to do it. We don't depend on our mind to focus. It doesn't start with our education, it starts with the Spirit. Be suspicious when we start to get ideas.
In the silence, God is actually doing something. He is doing something far more superior and personal.
It is true that Jesus came for Israel. But God also is a light to the Gentiles too.
If we are just for the promises and principles, we will never truly know God.
Our response is not to argue with God. Appeal to the fact that He is greater and more powerful and merciful.
Yes, claim His Word. But He is more loving than His Word.
Kneel before Him, bow before Him and have mercy on us. Realise that we have no right to say anything and completely surrender to Him. God is drawing us to not just His promises but also He longs for us, His heart yearns for us. We won't know it until we let God do what He wants to do to us. Let it go and He will do more than His promises.
So the woman knelt before Him and said, "Lord, help me." And let God have His way.
Jesus begins to heal and transform her. Against the Pharisees, Jesus always has the last word. But it is brilliant that in this case, she begins to argue her case in her utter surrender to Him. "Even the dogs get the crumbs." She saw that even if she has a little bit of Jesus, a little bit of the Holy Spirit, it is enough.
God wants us to appreciate the little things and build up from there.
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