January, 2006 -- Word of Truth Family Church, Many, Louisiana

In Matthew 15, as "Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon, a Canaanite woman...came to him, crying out, 'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.'"

Judging by Jesus' actions in similar instances in the gospels, we might expect him to then turn to her and say, "I'll come heal your daughter," or, "Go, your daughter is whole at this very hour."

Interestingly, however, "Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples cam to him and urged him, 'Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.'"

Did the woman become embarrassed or offended or confused or hurt at this point, leaving and grumbling all the way home? Absolutely not. What she did next even "surprised" Jesus.

So did Jesus say, "OK, then. She will be healed." No. "He replied, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

Again, another opportunity for offense, hurt, embarrassment, or confusion! Why would our precious, gentle Jesus say such a hurtful thing to this woman who only wanted her daughter to be healed, like so many others who had come to Jesus for the same thing? Because it was true. He was sent to save the world, yes; but first he was sent to God's people, the Jews. God had promised them a savior, and here he was. (It was after the Jews rejected Jesus that the gospel was preached to the Gentiles.)

Look what this woman says next: "'Yes, Lord...but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.'"

"Then Jesus answered, 'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour."

Faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). Faith will cause God to move in a seemingly impossible situation. It wasn't her simple request or his great compassion that caused Jesus to heal her daughter, it was her great faith.

Reading from Matthew 13, I see a repetitious phrase: "the kingdom of heaven is like...." Jesus seemed to really want to get across to his disciples what the kingdom of heaven is like. He told them several parables, explaining that "the kingdom of heaven is like" (1) a man who sowed good seed in his field, (2) a mustard seed, (3) yeast, (4) treasure hidden in a field, (5) a merchant looking for fine pearls, and (6) a net. Of course, you have to read Matthew 13 to get the whole story on each of these.

Well, you know, I'm reading my One Year Bible. Today's reading from Proverbs is one of my favorites. It's talking about the benefits of getting wisdom: long life, riches, honor, and peace. And "those who lay hold of her [wisdom] will be blessed."

If you need wisdom, ask God (James 1:5) and He will give it to you. So, along with wisdom, you also get long life, riches, honor, peace, and blessings.

This brings up another thought that I don't have time to put down right now because I must go to work. But it has to do with wisdom helping you get those other things...

Psalm 5:12
"For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield."

God does it all. The only credit we can take is recognizing what He has done and receive it and act upon it.

Thank you, Lord. You made me righteous, you bless me, and you surround me with your favor as with a shield. That's so cool.

One of my goals each year is to read the Bible through, and I'm off to a great start! It's January 4th, and I'm actually on January 4th in my One Year Bible!

So, reading today from Genesis 8:1, I see something curious. It's talking about Noah and the flood waters. You know the story: it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Noah and his family and a bunch of animals are floating in the ark. Then the Bible says, "God remembered Noah." At first thought, the mental picture is that God is up there looking down at the spectacle of water covering the earth when suddenly--"Oh, yeah!"--he remembers Noah. Like He'd forgot.

So I looked up the original Hebrew meaning of the word used there, which incidentally is zakar. Guess what it means? Basically, everything it means in English: to recall, to call to mind, to remember. Hmmm. I looked to see what Matthew Henry thought about it in his commentary on the whole Bible. He had an interesting viewpoint. He said that of course God doesn't forget any of His creation, much less His people. He said, "God's remembering Noah was the return of his mercy to mankind." After all, He did set out to destroy them all.

How interesting. His mercy returned to mankind. Reminds me of the verse I wrote about on January 1, that His mercy is new each morning.

How wonderful that we can count on His mercy! Likewise, as He has shown us mercy, we are to show mercy to others. That's called FORGIVENESS.

There's just something good about NEW stuff. A new bike, a new car, a new house, new clothes...(New clothes. Does anyone appreciate them more than my 3rd child? There are so many hand-me-downs. NEW clothes are really important to her.)

With Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, he ratified a new and better (Hebrews 8:6) covenant. When we got saved, we were made a new creation; old things were passed away, and all things were made new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Every morning, His compassion and mercy is new toward us!

¹⁸ "Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
       Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
       I am making a way in the desert
       and streams in the wasteland.