HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div
“And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.” Matthew 15:22-23
Sorrow is Christ’s angel. The mother’s home grief, broken heart, and helplessness, and despair of ordinary methods of cure — the hand of the Good Physician were in them all. They were storms of His arranging, designed to strand her at last on the Rock of Ages! Is it not why He afflicts me today?
Delay is Christ’s incentive. I cry to Him and cry again. But the heavens are like impenetrable brass over my head, and no answer comes. It is hard to bear — yet it is meant in love.
He would have me cling closer.
He would have me ask more earnestly.
He would have me take the kingdom by force.
And, when at length He blesses me, “a moment’s fellowship with Him, my grief will overpay.”
The healed soul is Christ’s missionary. Was this mother, not the first convert of the Church in Tyre, about which we read in later Scriptures? Having freely received, she freely gave. It is why I am redeemed, blessed, and crowned. It is that I may be the evangelist and messenger of my Saviour. “Potent with the spell of Heaven,” I am to go and entice my brother home.
