Luther Seminary

A daily devotion brought to you by the alumni of Luther Seminary

Archives for September 4, 2003

Thursday, September 4, 2003

Mark 7: 24-30 (NRSV)

Read Mark 7: 24-30 on biblegateway.com

Verse 24From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, Verse 25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Verse 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. Verse 27He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." Verse 28But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Verse 29Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go-the demon has left your daughter." Verse 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Devotion

“And the Demon was Gone” (Mark 7:30)

He was found at the bottom of the pool. He was revived and diagnosed as alive but suffering massive and irreversible brain damage. We prayed for a miracle, not for us, but for the sake of this little five-year old boy. It happened! Every attending doctor, including the little boy’s father who was also a doctor, said, “We have just witnessed a miracle.”

Miracles happen. Rabbi Kushner’s explanation that “bad things happen to good people” rings true; sometimes we’re lucky and sometimes we’re not. The important thing to remember when miracles happen or don’t happen is to be thankful in all things and for all things.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the miracle of life. We stand in awe of your creative power. Help us to see the greatest miracle in our lives: our presence in your gift of faith to us, enabling us to see the smaller miracles in our lives that happen day by day.

Alan Solmonson Retired, Olympia, Wash.