Precious crumbs, adopted sons

Monday, January 31, 2011
Devotions: Ps 56, 57, 64, 65; Isa 51:17-23; Gal 4:1-11; Mk 7:25-37

Be gracious to me, YHWH; people are walking all over me. I get nervous, but I put my trust in You, praising Your word, and restoring my confidence. Those who waste energy trying to hurt me are fools. I know that God is for me, so mortals cannot damage me. I give myself to You again today, my God. Have mercy as I take refuge in You. Put to shame those who trample me; send me Your steadfast love and faithfulness. God, my heart is steadfast. I love to sing praise to You! Lord hide me from the ambushes of the wicked; let them be brought low by Your vengeance. Let the righteous rejoice in God and let all the upright in heart sing for joy. Praise is due to You, God Most High. Blessed are all whom You draw to Yourself. You are Master of all creation and every creature. You crown the year with bounty; Your chariot-tracks drip with richness. The earth decks herself with plenty and all creation shouts and sings together for joy.

Let Jerusalem stand up and move forward under God's authority. Devastation and destruction have visited, famine and sword have struck—but by God's grace, you are still standing. God has taken the cup of oppression and wrath from you, and He will visit these on your oppressors. Let us go forth in His might!

While the Lord's chosen remain immature, they are like a rich man's children: no better than slaves, living under the authority of guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. We, too, were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe. But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman and under the Torah, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because we are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father!' So through God, you are no longer a slave but a son and God's heir. When you didn't know God, you were in bondage to beings that are not real gods. But now that you have come to know the true God—or rather, to be known by God—how can you turn back to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you want to become once more? You are keeping special days and months and seasons and years. I fear I have labored over you in vain.

Jesus went into the region of Tyre and Sidon; He entered a house there, giving directions that His presence not be made known. But immediately a woman whose little daughter was demon-possessed, heard of Jesus and came and fell down at His feet. She was a Gentile, Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter. Jesus said to her, 'Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' The woman would not relent; she answered, 'Yes, Lord—but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.' And Jesus answered, 'For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.' And she went home and found the child lying in bed—and the demon was gone. Then Jesus returned through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and through the region of the Decapolis. They brought to Jesus a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment; they asked Jesus to lay hands on the man. Taking him aside privately, Jesus put His fingers into the man's ears; and He spat and touched His tongue; and then He looked up to heaven, sighed, and said to him, 'Ephphatha!'--which means be opened. And the man's ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Jesus charged all those present to tell no one; but the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. People were astonished beyond measire; they said, 'He has done all things well! He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.'