LEARNING AT THE POTTER'S WHEEL

Growing up, there was one joyful, funny lady that delighted to have people come and eat her food. She would cook for an entire day and the massive table would groan with all manner of meats, casseroles, pasta pies, creamed salads, etc. You had to eat your way through it all to make room for the 3 or 4 different deserts that would then arrive. None of it was health food, but every morsel was served by gracious hands that had labored in anticipation of this moment, watching others appreciate her culinary talents.

One day when I was privileged to enjoy one of her feasts, another couple had also been invited. They were older and the wife had been trying her best to introduce her husband to a healthier diet. He seemed less than appreciative of her efforts and was very much enjoying himself at this meal.

As our hostess cleared away the dishes to make room for desert, she filled a bucket with the scraps and remains. Unable to eat another mouthful, the man watched as this bucket of tasty morsels were then handed to the daughter with instructions to take it outside to the dog.

Alarmed, the man said, "You're going to give all that good food to the DOG?!" The hostess told him that they didn't like to keep leftovers. His response was, "WELL! It would be good just to be your dog!"

We all enjoyed a hearty laugh over that statement.

This past week, we read the story about the Syrophenician woman who came for healing and knelt at the Master's feet, begging Him to heal her daughter. The response she received was a bit of an insult.

But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. Matthew 15:26

She could have argued the point, gotten offended, or given up. Instead, she accepted His premise and repeated her request:

And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Matthew 15:27

Like the guest of my friend, this woman didn't care so much how the good things were delivered as long as she received what was available. She didn't need it on a silver platter with fine linen. She just knew she needed HIM, HIS touch, HIS remedy . . . and she was prepared to receive it in whatever form He saw fit. Her faith and persistence paid off:

Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Matthew 15:28

This morning's sermon was on this same text and the persistent entreaty of a mother on behalf of her child, her faith that the Potter knew how to mold the circumstances and the people involved. This mother didn't tell him HOW to do or WHAT to do. She just knew that she needed HIS touch.

*sigh*

How often have I appointed myself Manager of the Universe? I don't even own a decorative cape or possess super-human abilities, but I have often deluded myself into thinking that I knew just what the circumstance needed. I've even asked the Potter to change this or that on my behalf. I've had the audacity to be offended when things didn't go just as I had imagined they should. Oh! to have such a faith as this woman. She didn't bother with the what or how. She just needed Him.

In the end, she was right. To be HIS dog, eating crumbs from HIS table brought the healing that her child needed and the remedy that she knew He could bring.

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. ~Psalm 119:165~