Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Surprised by the wisdom of humility
I know I promised to log about Sapa and Halong Bay too.. It's in the pipeline ok? =P
Tonight, I need to reflect on some things that I've said during my private prayer with God, after I heard a verse during prayer meeting today. Just for the record, for the longest time, I could not verbalise a prayer before God when alone. Some of the struggles of a guy who finds it hard to relate to God on a personal level at that degree.
But today, I went back to my knees. I went back to talking to God about what's weighing on my heart. It felt strangely peaceful. It was after I had reflect on this verse found in Matthew 15:21-28, the account of Jesus and the Canaanite woman.
And going away from there, Jesus withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a woman who was a Canaanite from that district came out and, with a [loud, troublesomely urgent] cry, begged, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is miserably and distressingly and cruelly possessed by a demon! But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying out after us.
He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
But she came and, kneeling, worshiped Him and kept praying, Lord, help me!
And He answered, It is not right (proper, becoming, or fair) to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.
She said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little pups (little whelps) eat the crumbs that fall from their [young] masters' table.
Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you wish. And her daughter was cured from that moment.
Now this passage may be perplexing to many, as it is so easy to wonder why Jesus would be so mean to that Canaanite woman. But what Jesus said was culturally relevant and acceptable, even to the Canaanite woman. Israelites were supposed to inherit the land of Canaan, leaving no Canaanites in Canaan. In that sense, the Promised Land was God's inheritance for the Israelites, but somehow they did not manage to inherit it totally. So Jesus replied what was logical, in that He came to minister to the Israelites only. Ok, this is not a theological debate. In any case, this passage had a really profound impact on me. The Canaanite woman was praised for her great faith when she answered in such a wise manner.
I was humbled when I realized the truth in all that was transpiring between Jesus and the woman. Yes, the woman might have to acknowledge she isn't part of the inheritance. That she isn't learned in the ways of God and His people. But she still acknowledge that whoever she is, she still belongs to to God, the master! And that's not all, she acknowledges that however little she can get from God, mere crumbs as it were, it would still be more than the world could offer! That was what I confessed to God in my private prayer. That however unworthy we are, to receive the least of what God had to offer, it would still be more than what the world has to offer, more than what we could ever provide for ourselves! No matter how small we are in the eyes of God, it is still bigger than in the eyes of the world! Truly humbling. It leaves us no room to give excuses that we are not worthy to come into the presence of God, because doing so only means that we believe somehow we can gain more from being elsewhere. Sometimes being humbled reveals at the same time the sovereignty and wisdom of God.
Mantou at 11:40 PM