We have a lady in our church who had a stroke almost two years ago. It was devastating. Many people prayed and instead of getting better, she became worse. She eventually ended up in a nursing home. She became uncommunicative. It was tragic. But then a miracle happened. Slowly, slowly, she came out of it. Today when she comes to church, she comes preaching! She wants everyone to know what this Jesus has done for her; it is amazing, miraculous and God honoring.
Jesus changed her future. My last visit to her in the nursing home looked like her future would be there, but Jesus changed that. Her future was transformed.
Throughout the gospels, Jesus seemed to change peoples’ futures regularly, but sometimes in ways that people did not understand.
In one of Jesus’ trips, a Canaanite woman approached Him and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” [Mat 15:22 NASB]
As she screamed at Him, He did not respond and His disciples tried to get rid of her. Instead she pushed in front of Him and begged for His help. He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” [Mat 15:24-25 NASB] WHAT !!! Jesus called her a dog???
Ladies, in reading this, what would you have done? Would His statement have offended you? Would you have said, “Who does he think he is?” I have seen many times people get offended at Jesus. They would never admit they were, but they were. They came to God and prayed for something to happen, and it did not happen the way they thought it should. They had a need and also a plan on how God should answer it. “Lord, I ask you to change my daughter, and I need you to do it before she goes off to college!” And she doesn’t change. Or “We need help financially, and I want THAT job!” When God does not answer prayers the way He was asked, they get their feelings hurt/upset/insulted at the way He does things. And they walk away from God, church, and the Bible. They also walk away from the miraculous future He could give them.
Look at how this Canaanite woman responded. And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great [is] your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. [Mat 15:28 NKJV]
She did not pout, grumble, or complain. She just kept pursuing the One who could give her the miracle. Instead of leaving Jesus’ presence offended, her daughter was healed.
One time in a similar circumstance Jesus said, “ And blessed is [he] who is not offended because of Me.” [Luke 7:23 NKJV] In other words, he was saying, happy is the person who does not get offended at how I do things.
How about you? Are you mad at God because of the way He is running your life? Has He waited too long to answer your prayer, and you are just not as close to Him as you once were? Happy you will be if you do NOT get offended at Him. He still does the miraculous for those who wait on Him and trust Him.