Luke 4:38-41 Fever
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: July 4, 2018 Luke 4:38-41
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them. Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
(Understanding the Text) I assume this was the same day that he cast the demon out of the man, but it might not be. It was only a short walk from the synagogue to Peter’s house. What time was it? I imagine that it was about lunch time. They may have left the house before the women woke up and went to the synagogue. It occurs to me that Jesus was thoughtful and considerate of others, and so would have made sure that He and His twelve followers were not burdens on the people they stayed with. They probably took care of their own breakfast before leaving the house and did not disturb the women. Thus, they probably had no idea that there was a problem when they left. However, upon entering the house, they heard Peter’s worried wife saying that her mother had a high fever, and she seemed to be extremely sick. Was Jesus’ mother there also? Jesus went to where the old woman was laying down and stood over her. He did not touch her but simply told the fever to go away. She was immediately healed. She felt so well that she simply got up and started getting lunch ready for the hungry men.
After eating lunch the men stayed around the house. They may have sat outside talking. It was Sabbath, so they did not have any work in their hands as they talked. I imagine the women joined them to listen to the Teacher. Maybe, they played with Peter’s child(ren). Maybe they sang some Psalms. What did Jewish people do on Sabbath afternoons when they weren’t at synagogue?
Word had travelled around that Jesus had cast out the demon in the synagogue and about other healings (maybe even about Peter’s mother-in-law), so during that Sabbath afternoon in other homes where there were sick people, the conversation was about how to get their loved one over to Peter’s house as soon as they could. As soon as the sun set, the streets of Capernaum were full of people all heading in one direction. As neighbors saw other neighbors pass by with sick relatives, they asked them where they were going. As word spread more people hurried out to follow the crowd which grew with every passing minute.
What did the disciples think when they looked up and saw so many people coming down the street towards the house carrying their sick between them? When they reached the group of men, did the people beg Jesus for healing? Jesus laid hands on them and healed them. It’s interesting that with Peter’s mother-in-law, Jesus did not touch her, but with these people He did. Was it because of her faith? Or was it because by touching the people, Jesus had a better idea of what their disease was and thus, how to heal it? I think it was faith because the Bible seems to indicate that healing is a general working of the Holy Spirit without the healer needing to know medical procedures. On the other hand, it probably helps to have both, just as with the gift of teaching, learned skills work hand-in-hand with the gift so that many times it is difficult to know where one ends and the other begins, except for those times when you look back afterward and wonder how you taught that thing when you didn’t know how to do it yourself.
Jesus also cast out demons. Sometimes, I have wondered if the demons being cast out back then were really misdiagnoses of brain diseases like epilepsy, but that was definitely not the case here because the demons were yelling out that Jesus was the Son of God when Jesus cast them out. They were trying to cause problems for Jesus when they did this, I guess, but maybe they also could not help but acknowledge who He was when they were with Him. Why were there so many, and why were they so overt when nowadays we don’t see them much? There may have been a different Satanic strategy back then of ruling by fear and of taking out key players through possession. Or maybe there are the same number of possessions today, but there are so many more people that they get lost in the crowd. Guzik’s commentary agrees with this idea. “Was demon possession more common in Jesus’ day than our own? Actually, there are fewer than ten specific individuals delivered from demon possession, plus two general occasions where it describes people being delivered. This doesn’t seem abnormally high over a period of three years, among three million people.” Does the use of drug therapy today cause the possessed not to be able to terrorize people like in the past? The SDA commentary says that demons use a person’s nervous system/brain and this is why there are nervous disorder side effects that range from epilepsy to muteness to deafness. That makes sense because how could the demon speak through the possessed persons mouth without accessing the speaking areas of the brain, and if they did not care how they damaged a person, and, in fact, wanted to damage the person, they could have been heavy-handed in the brain manipulation department.
Personally, I think that there is a more covert strategy today where the possessed do not demonstrate the possession as in the past to terrorize until it is time for them to be killed themselves. I believe that we are seeing an increase in possession that ends in senseless attacks on others. It’s my explanation for the seeming increase in mass killings. In Jesus’ day, the possessed don’t seem to have killed people so much, but just hurt the one being possessed, but I think the demons may have refined their techniques over the years so that now they can better control their own malice toward the possessed and direct these people toward hurting others before their own final demise.
(Revelation of God) Jesus did not turn away the crowds even though they may have been contagious, gross, or terrifying. Jesus looked to the crowd approaching and pitied us and how low sin had brought us. He saw each one’s need and gave as much as the person needed. Jesus spent as much time healing and helping as He did teaching. The disciples repeated many of His lessons, but it is the healing that is most recorded. I need to live my life in service to my Savior by helping others in need who come to me.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself from this passage is that I need to look at other people in love no matter how disgusting, contagious, or dangerous. They are God’s lost children whom He still loves, and if I can be His hands or voice to heal them, I must be willing. This is hard for me; I need special power from the Holy Spirit to do this. I ask for the outpouring of the Spirit that is needed for the jobs that You have for me today.