Mark 7:31-37 Be Opened!
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: February 8, 2018, Mark 7:31-37
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.
Then Jesus left the territory of Tyre and passed through Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the territory of the Decapolis. Some people brought him a deaf man who also had a speech impediment. They begged him to lay his hand on him. Jesus took him away from the crowd to be alone with him. Putting his fingers into the man’s ears, he touched the man’s tongue with saliva. Then he looked up to heaven, sighed, and told him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened!” The man’s hearing and speech were restored at once, and he began to talk normally. Jesus ordered the people not to tell anyone, but the more he kept ordering them, the more they kept spreading the news. Amazed beyond measure, they kept on saying, “He does everything well! He even makes deaf people hear and mute people talk!”
(Understanding the Text) This passage says that Jesus was in the territory of Tyre and then went further north going through Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee; however, the Sea of Galilee is south of Sidon and Tyre on my map. Thus, it seems that this is saying that the healing of the Greek woman’s daughter happened around Tyre where they were staying in someone’s private home. Then, they traveled north to Sidon. From there, they turned south toward the Sea of Galilee, but they went on the east side of the sea to the Decapolis area. Why was Jesus taking an extended trip through the Gentile area? This was where modern Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan are located. Was it because there were many Jews living in this area that Jesus needed to reach for His ministry to be complete? Was He training His disciples on being missionaries and traveling to non-Jewish areas? Was He taking a survey of the surrounding Gentiles. Were there some specific people He needed to reach? I tend to think that the reason was training His disciples. Everything else seems to be about training them to take over after He left, so it makes sense that since He was going to be sending them out to be missionaries in the world that He would not neglect that aspect of their training.
More than one person cared enough about the deaf man to bring him to Jesus. It says they brought him and later Jesus told them not to tell anyone. In order to heal him, Jesus took the deaf man away from the crowd. It says to be alone with him, but I think the disciples were with Jesus because of the details involved.
(Revelation of God / Application) Jesus healed in different ways. With the Gentile woman’s daughter, he was not even present where the girl was, but with the deaf/speech-impeded man, Jesus did multiple actions which seem to indicate effort was involved. He spit and placed it on the man’s tongue. He put His fingers in the man’s ears. Then, he either sighed or groaned and said “Be opened.” Why? My theory is that since Jesus always mentions faith with healing, He has to work with the faith that someone has to heal. If this is so, maybe the Gentile woman had so much faith which increased as she gently argued with Jesus that He could heal through the woman’s faith and connection to her daughter. With the deaf man, Jesus could not communicate through sound, so He formed a connection through touch. The man received touch on His tongue and ears, so He understood that Jesus was going to heal both of those areas. It was a kind of communication that allowed the man to believe in the healing. This theory is fine for explaining two of the actions, but I don’t know what the sigh/groan was about. Was it because of effort expended? Was it just a usual mannerism? I don’t know. However, I believe that the faith of the person or someone connected to the person seems to be necessary for healing. Is this a key to intercessory prayer? Does God need a faith connection in order to work with power? Is faith/trust/belief more than simply an attitude/feeling? Are they actually the way that God’s power can flow to areas where it would be blocked usually? As we believe, we open up blocked channels for power to flow through? Were those channels blocked when Adam and Eve sinned? I know that I have heard a lot about the power of faith, but I guess I thought it was a metaphor. I think that maybe that expression refers to faith opening paths that allow more and more of the power of God to flow through this world. I have been skeptical about the moving mountains viewing it as a metaphor, but the power of God can move mountains. If a believer’s faith opened the door wide enough, God’s power could come through enough that a mountain could be blasted. Faith is much more than an attitude. It’s the solution to the problem of sin blockage which restricted God’s influence in this world.
This whole trip seems to be shrouded in secrecy. They tried to keep their location in Tyre quiet. After the miracle they moved on through Sidon where we are not told what they did, but they must have done something there. Then, in the Decapolis when the deaf man was healed, Jesus told them to keep it quiet. Why so much secrecy? Was it simply to avoid the crowds, or were they doing something else that needed to be kept quiet?
(Prayer) The people believed that Jesus was impressive saying that everything that He did resulted in only good. I pray to have that same belief instead of my lack of faith in the outcomes of doing God’s will.