But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Mark 7:27
RECOMMENDED READING: ROMANS 1:16-17 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”
COMMENTS: The above verse from Mark 7 has raised eyebrows and debates over the centuries. Why did Jesus give such a harsh answer to a woman desperate for Him to heal her demonic daughter? The woman was not a Jew but a Greek, but that did not hinder or deter healing for her or others. So why did he first give her such a harsh answer before healing her daughter? There have been reasonable explanations given by scholars and theologians far more learned than I in scripture. Yet most have similar responses. If Jesus intended to reject or condemn her, His next response would have been much different. If His response was testing her heart and faith before responding in healing her daughter, that would make more sense. If it was to respond to prejustice between Jews and Gentiles and condemnation of Jews towards Greeks in order to show them of God’s love and mercy towards all, Jews and Gentiles, then that would make sense too. I believe both are valid and good interpretations because Jesus demonstrated both other times and with other healings too. Faith is vital to receive His mercy Jew or Gentile.
So, it is probably best to move on knowing Jesus did respond to this mother’s pleas and healed her daughter. Redemption came to the home of this Greek mother. It took a great deal of humility for her to come to Jesus knowing He was popular with Jewish people but not with the Roman government or Jewish leadership.
So, what can we learn and receive from Him from this? The lesson is the same He also reveals to us through the healing of Jairus’ daughter and Roman Centurion’s servant and the woman with bleeding disorder and blind man and healing of leper and …. List goes on and on. If we come to Him in need knowing our need but seeking help and redemption, He will not deny us. If we come to Him with faith, we will receive from Him.
But there were countless others who witnessed these miracles who did not receive miracles from Him. They did not come to Him even though they believed. Others determined not to believe and still rejected Him. That is still true today.
How many miracles do we witness in changed lives and physical healings and resolution to real problems without recognizing Him as the source of those healings? If we deny God is responsible for the sun rising and setting each day, deny He faithfulness gives us life and food and shelter and protection each day, then we miss all the other miracles and intervention we enjoy from Him each day. If we miss all this evidence of His presence with us, then we can’t recognize or notice His abiding Holy Spirit with us either. We miss so much when we don’t take the time and open ourselves to see all He is already doing for us. We miss out on so much more He desires to do for us but is waiting for us to come to Him seeking. He desires personal fellowship with us and is doing everything within limits His Will permits to cause us to wake up and realize that. Some will but many will continue to reject Him. That breaks His heart but still allows that choice to remain with us because He respects the freedom He grants to all of us to make that choice, whether wise or foolish, for ourselves. No one can make that choice for us. As a parent, I appreciate that and also can appreciate how heartbreaking it is for Him when some still choose to reject Him. We are not called to save others nor try to force them to accept His saving Grace. We are called to live the life He offers to us and witness by example and by showing love and compassion and a helping hand and a testimony when asked or open to hear by others. Respecting others is key while remaining true to our own convictions.
God’s blessing was always intended for both the Jew and Gentile (Genesis 12:3; Isaiah 42:6)—for any and all who believe.
“Faith is the power of putting self aside that God may work unhindered.” F. B. Meyer My blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/
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Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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