I REALLY love today's "Daily Grace" by Joseph Prince!
COME AS YOU ARE AND RECEIVE
Matthew 15:27 And she said, “Yes,
Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’
table.”
Come as you are to the Lord with
your need, and lean on His unfailing and unconditional love for you. You don’t
have to pretend to be more than what you are to receive the blessing you need
from God. You don’t have to pretend to be someone else to appear more deserving
to receive from God.
A Canaanite woman desperately
seeking healing for her demon-possessed daughter came to Jesus (see Matthew
15:22–28). Knowing that He healed and did miracles among the Jews, she
pretended to be a Jew, calling out, “O Lord, Son of David!” (Only the Jews
addressed Jesus as the “Son of David.”) Jesus did not answer her. His silence
made her drop her pretense and cry out, “Lord, help me!”
Only when her pretenses had
melted away did she see the grace of God extended to her. Jesus made a way for
her to receive her miracle even though it was not yet time for the Gentiles to
receive His blessings. He told her, “It is not good to take the children’s
bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
Many people might be offended at
being called a “dog.” Actually, the Greek word used here by Jesus means
“puppy,” and is thus an affectionate rather than offensive term. So this woman
was not offended. In fact, she knew then that she could receive healing for her
daughter because even puppies get to eat what falls from their masters’ table.
She saw that the crumbs under the
Master’s table were enough for a Gentile, a “little dog,” like herself. You
must understand that the Jews then considered Gentiles dogs. But what Jesus was
trying to say was that He was called to the Jews first, not the Gentiles. Yet,
He loved this Gentile woman and her daughter enough to provide a “loophole” for
them to receive their miracle.
So when the Canaanite woman took
her place by dropping the title “Son of David” and just leaned on Jesus’
compassion for her, her daughter was healed from that very hour.
If God was willing to extend His
grace to a Gentile, how much more you, His beloved child! You do not need to
depend on pretensions to receive a miracle from Him. Come as you are and lean
on His grace. If He has delivered Jesus up for us, “how shall He not with Him
also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
Shalom in Him!