Word of Encouragement (5/12/2020)
Today, we will talk about what great faith is a little more. In my last email, I spoke of two individuals (both Gentiles, ironically), whose faith impressed Jesus: the Syrophoenician woman, who asked Jesus to set her daughter from demons and the Roman centurion, who asked Jesus to heal one of his servants. In both cases, we see two things about their great faith: 1) they had a high regard for Christ; 2) they trusted Jesus to have mercy upon them (in the case of the Syrophoenician woman, she would not stop until He did).
In what ways did they have a high regard for Jesus? First, they believed that Jesus was able to heal their loved ones. That is why this Gentile woman traveled to Capernaum to meet Jesus. That is why the Roman centurion sent the Jewish elders to Jesus. This was not because Jesus had a higher social standing. That was far from true, at least in the case of the Roman centurion. Yet the Roman centurion showed a deep respect for Jesus, who was, according to the worldly standard, but a carpenter from Nazareth. The respect he showed to Jesus was much more than the kind one showed when approaching a famous witch doctor or magician. If Caesar wanted to visit his home, would he have refused? He would have welcomed the opportunity as a great honor. But his message to Jesus was, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof” (Luke 7:6).
The Syrophoenician woman’s respect for Jesus was shown in her readiness and willingness to endure all kinds of humiliation to get His help. She was not deterred by Jesus’ initial non-response to her plea. She was not put off when Jesus said He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. Even when Jesus indirectly referred to her as a dog, she did not take any offense as if He had all the right to treat her that way. (Of course, if Jesus seems uncharacteristically harsh and unsympathetic toward this poor woman, it was because He was testing her faith. This is demonstrated by the praise He later showers on her for her great faith: “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire” [Matt. 15:28].)
A great faith is not something we manufacture with our willpower. It is what happens in us as a result of knowing the greatness of God. To put it in another way, borrowing John Piper's analogy: a great faith is not a microscope that makes a small God great but a telescope that shows how great God is! There is a sense, in which our faith is directly proportional to our (true, personal) knowledge of God: the more we get to know God, the greater our faith gets. So we need to grow in our knowledge of God, scripturally and experientially.
But I doubt that the Syrophoenician woman or the Roman centurion had deep theological knowledge of God or Scripture. Yet, Jesus praised them for great faith. How can that be? It seems that their desperate situation and their helplessness to do anything about it had a lot to do with it. They knew how big their problems were. But they also believed that Jesus was able to solve their problems.
I find this to be so very encouraging. Don’t you? We don’t have to wait until we are biblically and theologically knowledgeable to have great faith. (We certainly need to grow in our knowledge to have a mature and great faith.) But we can have a great faith where we are, facing our overwhelming challenges and problems. Maybe God has placed us where we are because He wants to bless us with a great faith, which is what He delights in. In fact, He is ready to be impressed by our great faith! Would you not bring your fears and cares and problems to our great Lord? “Thou art coming to a King, / large petitions with thee bring, / for his grace and pow'r are such, / none can ever ask too much.”
Have a blessed day!