Mark 7:24-30 (NIV)

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

"Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."

She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

I'm sitting in my little home study space with lots of mementoes around me. Some are from family. A few kites sit above me and remind us that we bought them a few years ago but haven't used them yet. Perhaps this summer. The ball gloves in a milk crate below me throw me back to last summer when I was playing catch with Mark and Ian. A rope with a hook on it pulls me back to last winter when Ian and I hauled down a snagged tree with it. Microphone stands in the corner call me back to college when I used them in my first shows as a sound technician, 20 years ago.

A hand splint sits at the edge of a shelf in front of me. About 16 months ago, early December 2005, I developed tendinitis in my left hand below my thumb. I'm a guitar player, and I was preparing to accompany a teenage girl from our church for a song in the Christmas concert. I mentioned the pain in my hand to a lady in a guitar shop. "Oooo," she said. "That can last months." I could still play, but it was very painful, and playing made it worse. I made an appointment to see the physiotherapist, who did his thing and suggested a splint. He also said recovery might take several months. I got the splint but I began praying for healing as well.

To make a long story short, about a week later, I no longer needed the splint. Very cool. I played, and life has gone on. The splint sits unused on the shelf where I took it off one day, and I leave it as a reminder.

I didn't grow up in a church where we talked about things like healings, or other such things. We didn't talk about them in Christian college or seminary, either. There were some who talked about these things, but we didn't travel in the same circles. Its not that I didn't believe it could happen. After all, how could I dispute what I read in the Bible. My experience, however, didn't lend itself to thinking these things could happen for me - to someone else, perhaps, but not me.

I think this is where a lot of Christians are. Miracles are possible, "for someone else, perhaps, but not me." For someone else.

It is interesting that, of all the people Jesus encountered, the woman from Tyre should have believed that miracles were not for her. She was not Jewish. She lived outside the Jewish homeland. Jesus represented everything she was not. Why should she believe this was for her? And yet she did.

Jesus tested her resolve by using a little parable: "...it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." In other words, Jesus was saying, "Shouldn't the blessings be given first to those for whom they were originally intended?" He wasn't being cruel, only testing her true beliefs. How would she respond? "I guess you're right. Its for other people, not me."

"...Even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." To paraphrase, she replied, "If even the dogs can expect to pick up a few morsels from the table, shouldn't I expect some overflow of blessing?"

There is a lot of stuff I don't pretend to understand about miracles and healings without even getting into demonization. I understand the feeling of "for someone else," however, and we don't even have to be talking about miracles. I run across people all the time who believe that God has good things in store for his people but not for them. Same problem.

Its been interesting over the past 10 or so years. I've been collecting some of my own experiences: various times of empowerment by the Holy Spirit in difficult situations; several healings after anointing with oil and praying, as per James 5:14-15; the healing of a friend's back; the healing of my hand; the healing of my arm after tearing a bicep. All of these experiences seem to point in the same direction. Miracles aren't just for other people.

Like I said, there's lots of stuff I don't understand. This is hard for someone who likes to have things all figured out. But its hard to argue with something I've seen for myself.

I don't know what kind of conclusions you'll make about all of this. But my hope is that each of us will trust Jesus more and more, and that by realizing that God's miracles are not just for other people, we will see God at work more often and we will aim higher.

Hope this helps,

Be OnFire,

Troy

March 6, 2007