Genesis 2:18-25, Psalm 128:1-5, Mark 7:24-30

Genesis 2:18-25, Psalm 128:1-5, Mark 7:24-30

Genesis 2:18-25

My Beloved God is a family of Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so God knew that to be alone means that one is not complete there must be another. God also knew exactly what the man needed so He put him to sleep while He fashioned a companion for the man. Woman was God's gift to man. God fashioned her to complement him, to fit together so the two become one.

A woman is always a gift for this is what God intended and man, in receiving her, must always respond as Adam did in verse 23, “Now this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” 

God ordained that when a man receives a woman as his wife every other human relationship takes second place and verse 24 declares, "That is why man leaves his father and mother and is attached to his wife, and with her becomes one flesh." Just as the Triune God is One so is a man and his wife one.

Verse 25 says, "Both the man and his wife were naked and were not ashamed." The relationship between a man and his wife must be touched by the divine - they come before each other just as they are, vulnerable yet confident that each need never be ashamed of being truly themselves for there is no fear of rejection. It is in marriage that a man and his wife become truly themselves and are privileged to have a foretaste of the heavenly nuptials between God and man. 

Psalm 128:1-5

My Beloved, God intends that every marriage be blessed abundantly. Every marriage must be fruitful. The wife gives her husband purpose, serenity and contentment; she is the center to which he is anchored even as he goes about his daily duties as head of his household. 

Just as You my Beloved are Head of Your Church, Your Body, so is the husband the the head of his home while his wife is the heart of it. It is she who receives and renders what she receives fruitful. Every time a man gazes at his wife he is aware that she is God's best blessing to him and he to her.

Mark 7:24-30

My Beloved, sometimes it may be seen that God's response to the heartfelt cries of our heart are harsh and unfeeling just as the Syrophoenician woman just have felt. She heard of You and the miracles You had worked, she had complete confidence that You could heal her little daughter who was possessed by an evil spirit. Here is a pagan who believed whereas the people God chose for His own did not. 

Regarded as a pagan by the Jews, she was used to being treated as an  outcast. In coming to You she was prepared to risk humiliation and perhaps was not surprised at Your uncharacteristic cruel response to her plea as she had experienced it from Jews before. So she had come prepared to stand her ground no matter what and plead her cause.

You never rejected anyone who came to You. All received the healing and blessing they needed. This time would be no different. You had every intention of healing her daughter but You wanted her response to what appeared as Your rejection and repudiation of her to be noted and recorded for all time. You wanted to praise her faith to the Jews and to teach us persistence in prayer. We ought not to be disheartened but continue to pray with faith confident that at a time of His choosing God will give us all we ask for and more.