LET'S DO IT AGAIN

By Pastor Troy Gramling

Not long ago there was a commercial for Kodak where a dad takes his little girl to a public pool with the purpose of teaching her how to dive off the diving board.  As she climbs the high ladder and looks down into the water...she freezes.  It's a long way down...the water looks intimidating...What will happen if she leaps off and lets go?

She looks over the edge of the board and can't move, legs solidly in place.  She can't move. Unmoving. Unsure.

Dad tells her to jump.  He reassures it will be fine. That she will be safe.  That he would never let anything happen to her.

Doubt is a powerful entity.  Our Heavenly Father wants us to jump but often...

We need reassurance.
We need security.
We need proof
We need God to do something first.

And so we stand in the same place expressing our needs at the end of a great leap...

But need doesn't move God's heart.

"Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  A Gentile woman who lived there came to Him, pleading, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely." 

But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word.  Then His disciples urged Him to send her away. "Tell her to go away" they said. "She is bothering us with all her begging."

Then Jesus said to the woman, "It isn't right to take food away from the children and throw it to the dogs."

She replied, "That is true, Lord.  But even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath the Master's table."

"Dear woman," Jesus said to her, "your faith is great.  Your request is granted." And her daughter was instantly healed. (Matthew 15:21-28)

This Gentile woman needed for her daughter to be healed....she begged and pleaded.  And interesting enough, Jesus did not say a word to her.  Was He being mean spirited or cruel?  Of course not.  He was on task...doing what He had been sent to do...serve God's chosen people, the Israelites.  He knew He couldn't (and wasn't meant to) get to everyone who asked for His time. 

She persisted.  Crying her needs into the air...seeking reassurance...a guarantee...proof that miracles still happen.  She expressed her needs to God...but it wasn't what she said that made Jesus change His course of action.

IT WAS HER FAITH.

It wasn't what she needed that moved Christ...IT WAS WHAT SHE BELIEVED.

Faith is what God is looking for. Persistent and unshakable faith.  Belief that...

That the pool will be deep enough...
That your prayers will be strong enough...
That your God is strong enough...

God knew her needs...but it was FAITH that healed that little girl.

At the end of the Kodak commercial, the girl closes her eyes and jumps...trusting in the depth of the water and the words of her father.   Splashing down and quickly popping back up, she looks over to the deck she looks at her dad and tells him, "Let's do it again, daddy!"

God will always be enough. Don't doubt. And remember, God knows you needs before you even have them...but it's not His knowledge of the things you need that fixes things...

IT'S YOUR FAITH IN HIS ABILITY TO DO IT.

And when you take that leap and God catches you,  you will tell Jesus the same thing.....

"LET"S DO IT AGAIN!"