Good Morning Friends,
One of the greatest tragedies in the world is when people continue to live in darkness when they can live in the light. We saw it yesterday in connecting the Transfiguration to our relationship with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to create healing. We continue this thought in relation to today’s scriptures about leadership and facing giants in the story of the Canaanite woman seeking healing for her daughter and in the story of Moses sending out scouts into the Promised Land. God calls us to have faith that will not fold. We see the challenge and the truth of it in today’s lectionary selections. Both deal with the requirements of having the faith to encounter the unfamiliar and discover a way to succeed. We see the challenge of this in the journey to Canaan and the God imposed delay on entering the promised land for the Israelites. And we see it in Jesus extending the meaning of Christianity beyond men to women and beyond Jews to Gentiles. This requires faith but also some planning and optimism. Do You Have The Courage To Lead Others In The Promise Of Grace?
Scripture: The Lord said to Moses, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites; from each of their ancestral tribes you shall send a man, everyone a leader among them.” At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan.” But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we.” So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are of great size. There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: How long shall this wicked congregation complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they complain against me. Say to them, “As I live,” says the Lord, “I will do to you the very things I heard you say: your dead bodies shall fall in this very wilderness; and of all your number, included in the census, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me, According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.” I the Lord have spoken; surely I will do thus to all this wicked congregation gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.
Numbers 13:1-2, 25-14:1, 26-29a, 34-35 (NRSV)
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Matthew 15:21-28 (NRSV)
Message: Too many people still live their lives in spiritual darkness when they can live in the life changing light of Jesus the Christ. Undoubtedly Jesus was praying when confronted with the situation of the Canaanite woman. Everything was wrong with that woman in Canaanite-Jewish relations. She was the wrong gender, the wrong religion, and the wrong nationality. But she still spoke up for her convictions because she believed that Jesus Christ could heal her daughter. She had within her the courage and boldness which nourished and strengthened her faith. To test her sanity, Jesus called her a puppy instead of the term dog that would have been common for the time. And the woman was not put off in the least. Then she comes back with one of the great lines in the Bible, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” So too, we are not to take things so personally. We are to realize our collective spiritual potential comes only when we step outside our comfort zone and trust. We are to trust that God has our best interest in hand, so we can let go of our fears and prayerfully allow the new words of God’s grace to guide us forward in search of healing. Friends, God’s solution for the problem of our disobedient condition is meant for everyone. It would be wise to examine the actions of the characters in today’s scripture and take notice of how we can apply their situation to ours. It is about overcoming barriers. For example, the passage from Matthew is about a woman who had three cultural barriers for that time. First, she was a woman, second, she was a Gentile, and third, she was a Canaanite. She had multiple challenges. So too, God was challenging the Israelites to stretch their faith in our passage from Number. God not only wanted Jews to have a desire for the land, but he wanted them to take a good look at their adversaries. He wanted them to turn to Him in faith to conquer these powerful people. In like manner, God challenges us in our Christian walk. We have a challenge before us, one that is not going to come without its share of difficulties. But know this, if we try to do it alone, we are doomed for defeat. However, if we allow God to lead us, we will enter the place of promise with victory. So, learn from the Canaanite woman. Learn from the Israelites. Learn that God can grant us faith, a faith so great that it will not give up even in the face of uncertainty, a faith so great that it seeks Jesus Christ relentlessly, a faith so great that it believes God’s blessings are too big for one nation, a faith so great that it never quits.
And So, the challenge is in risking on the one hand to extending the table of grace and on the other believing in the grace of God enough to risk actions that glorify God. This takes courage and if combined with action and grace becomes healing and the essence of leadership. So, we are not to take things so personally. We are to realize our collective spiritual healing comes only when we step outside our comfort zone and trust God. And when we trust that God has our best interest in hand, we can let go of our fears and prayerfully allow the words of God’s grace to guide us forward in search of healing. Leadership here begins with understanding and accepting the dream. We need to see the strengths in others and ourselves rather than persistently working to improve weaknesses and in the process create negativity. We are to spend more time focused on the strength of God. We are to speak hopefully. So, if you don’t think others can rise to meet challenges, get out of leadership. Instead serve others by helping them reach their dreams. The object is to provide a healing, not a cure or just some care. For a cure and care is not synonymous with what Jesus provides. Healing is what we are to seek, and it can be instantaneous, however, is often a lifelong process of recovery and growth despite, and maybe because of, enduring physical, emotional, or spiritual assault. It requires time. And so, healing as with leadership is much more than getting better or having our problems go away. Healing and leadership imply growth, development, and maturation in the Spirit. Briefly, both healing and leadership is essentially change guided by God. It takes time and energy and struggle, but they both teach us about God and help us to become more sensitive and aware to the details of life. And this invites humility and faith to open our hearts to the truth, beauty and grace of our God who transforms and heals and energizes our entire being in the light of Christ.
Pray we fill others with courage. Pray we are obedient. Pray we are responsible. Pray we are wise. Pray we are strong. Pray we are confident. Pray we act when God wants us to act. Pray we consider the good and the bad. Pray we consider the barriers to engagement. Pray we find a way to defeat the enemy. Pray we establish our presence, strengthen ourselves, and settle the place of promise. Pray we consider the opportunities of change. Pray we realize that God finds pleasure when our faith persists despite pressure. Pray God grant us the faith of a woman who had nowhere else to turn except to worship at Jesus’ feet. Pray the leaders in the churches are not guiding wicked congregations unwilling to risk for the promises of God. Pray we realize with some sense of joy that our loving Lord delights to show mercy and so should we. Pray we successfully overcome crises and hardships without fleeing from challenges or concealing problems. Pray right now along with the Holy Spirit that our words begin to transform our church, country and community into a house healed by new words of loving prayer. Pray we realize that courage, action and grace combine to create healing and also leadership.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 