Every Dog Has It’s Day
Matthew 15. 21-28 NIV
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
I’m sure when Christ fed the 5000 with five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish that the miracle itself was a candle that could not be placed under a bushel. For who among Galilee, Samaria, and Judea didn’t hear of it? However, it’s the poor widow’s 2 mites (a small thing to many) that get overlooked. This story is such a small story, that we may tend to pass it by. Though it takes place in the land of darkness (Matthew 4: 15-16), and involves a gentile woman, it is a full loaf of fresh bread for us to chew on.
As you already know, we live in a “portions” world. Most of those “portions” are super in size. Big is In. Big Money, Big Love, Big Meals, Big Muscles, Big Churches, Big Cars. Most like their style excessive. We know that our Jehovah is a Jireh, a provider, and a God that sends abundance that our cup may overflow (Psalms 68.9). Yet let us never forget that God is a God of the small portions as well. Just as He is in the basketfuls, He is in the crumbs. He sees the widow’s mite, one lost sheep, one lost coin, one pearl, one orphan, one sinner above ninety-nine that need no repentance. God isn’t small, He’s big! Still He’s big enough to be small, if He has too.
The problem with the culture of “Big”, is that it tends to give us the “ONE BIG APPOINTMENT IN THE SKY” mentality (Live as good as you can and you have one big test to pass. All that matters is the end of your life). Salvation isn’t about you making it to the judgment seat, but it’s about what you do before you get there. The time to live for God is now. I’ve discovered that it’s in the small moments of fellowship with him that you usually get the most revelation. Everyone needs at least one, “one-a-day”. What’s this? Where you begin or stop for a little while and focus on God, in prayer, to listen for correction AND direction! In Matthew 15, this Canaanite woman needs a miracle. Her daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. She’s vexed! That word means that she was tormented by this evil, unclean spirit. Jesus tells her He can’t give the children’s bread to dogs. She then says, “True Lord, but even the dogs get (eat) the crumbs that fall from the masters table.”
Valuing Precious Bread.
In famine “a crumb” is precious bread. Precious bread comes from precious seed. In the body of Christ it seems that all we discuss is the “more than enough” God, but He’s also a God of few crumbs. We preach loaves, but God still cares about every crumb of your life. Look at the promise of God to the children of the Exodus. I will give you a land flowing with milk and honey! Wow! Sounds like abundance and it is, but how did He give it to them? Here’s how. Exodus 23: 29-30 KJV “I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.” God still does big things in the smallest ways. Sometimes big in head means small in heart. It doesn’t take big to move God. Jesus said, “If you have faith as a grain (that’s awfully small) you can say to this mountain (that’s awfully big) be thou removed”. Even if it’s a small mountain it’s still a big hill to climb. God cares about every crumb of your life. You’ve heard it said, “The devil is in the details”, but so is your God. He is in the tiniest moments of your day and life.
Most times the littlest crumb from the Holy Ghost can sustain us a long way! Look in I Kings 19, at the story of Elijah, who had been on an exhausting journey from Mt. Carmel to Jezreel. He outran the chariots of Ahab! Wow! After a threat form the king’s wife he ran into the wilderness and went to sleep. An angel showed up and said 3 words, “Get Up, Eat”! And there was a cake baked on hot stones and cruse of water. Now what is that going to do for an exhausted, depressed Elijah who’s on the run for his life? When you are hungry, you are hungry. Elijah eats the cake and like most people he lays back down for another nap. The angel says again, “Get up and eat, for this journey is too great for you!” Elijah ate the heavenly snack and went in the strength of that meat for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. Wait a minute! Even if it’s a big piece of bread cake and a tall glass of water that’s still an incredible amount of time, distance, and journey to go on for only a piece of cake. However, just one crumb of heaven’s meat can sustain you for longer than you can humanly imagine. For example, there are some scriptures, messages, and words I have heard that I can’t remember, but others have been words from heaven, bread from glory that I have laid as foundational truths of my life. Famine and Dry Seasons will come, and in famine a crumb is precious bread. Those who are aware that they deserve nothing will be thankful for anything. Sometimes you need to see God stretch your dollar. I couldn’t tell you about my BIG mountain without telling you about the small seed of faith that moved it. You need to learn to live by faith, if you are going to try to walk by faith.
Why should we value precious bread? Because, you’ve got to listen hard nowadays to get an anointed word. A soul hot preacher is a rare thing in this generation that values nothing. We take the things of God so much for granted. Oh, thank God for every soul-hot minister (men and women), not just screamers, but those who are piercing the darkness with every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. I truly value you all. The bread that you don’t value grows stale quickly.
Whose Dog is it? It’s not a matter of who you are, but whose!
Did you ever read anywhere else where Christ seemed to openly deny an open heart? He throws a dart of statements when He tells this woman, “I can’t give the bread to dogs”, yet her response is monumental and powerful. With grace, she catches His statement and throws her faith right at her fear of rejection. “Yes, Lord!” Yes, you’re exactly right. But O Son of David, Have mercy on me and help me. O son of David, help me. Like you helped your lying, cheating, murdering, adulterous, ancestor. You helped him. Yes, Yes, Lord you’re right, but aren’t you a savior of dogs. Aren’t you a healer of the broken? Aren’t you the comforter to the outcast, meek and lowly?!
This woman’s response was this: If I have sinned then let there be a controversy over my sin. If I am in a struggle with life, or the devil, then if you choose to grade my trial performance let it be, or if I have made my pain into a god then let there be an open rebuke on me. But let my IDENTITY and my POSSESSION not be a controversy, issue, or be open for question. I MIGHT BE A DOG, BUT I’M YOUR DOG! I’m not just any mutt, nor stray, but I’m yours. I cast myself into your hands… SO FEED ME. I’m your dog Lord! You may feel like a dog, but your master is a king. Her response was her claim to her identity. I belong to you! I’m a covenant dog. Then Jesus’ response to her changed, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it unto you as you will. FAITH CHANGES POSITION!
I don’t know if you heard of the story in August of 2007, of the death of Leona Helmsley. Helmsley was a luxury hotelier and real estate billionaire. The story wasn’t over her death, but rather her inheritance. Helmsley left her beloved white Maltese (her little dog), named Trouble, a 12 million dollar trust fund. She left nothing to two of her grandchildren. This would make Trouble perhaps the richest dog in the world. Now I was driving down the road with a friend of mine and we were just talking about the Bible and different scriptures, and he made a statement that stuck to me. He said, “You know, every dog has his day”. I couldn’t get that silly phrase out of my mind. Now I know why. Have you ever been in a season of loss? It seemed like everything you did failed. The Bible says, “There is a time to win and a time to lose”. Both are equally important as the other. Life is a sequence of seasons. Never give up during the season in which God is making you more into the image of Christ. This is a hard thing, but you’ll get there. God is plucking out, pulling off, and defeating all your pride. You may feel like a loser. You’re not, you’re just losing what must be lost in order to win.
EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY.
The wicked have their day. What day? Their day of pleasure of prosperity.
Hebrews 11:25 KJV “….to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”
Psalms 17:14 KJV “….men of the world which have their portion in this life.”
Psalms 73:3-12 NIV “….for I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their calloused hearts comes iniquity: the evil conceits of their minds know no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say, ‘How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?’ This is what the wicked are like— always carefree, they increase in wealth.”
Scriptures like these bear witness with us as children of God. Why? Because we’ve all wondered and entertained this thought, Lord why don’t you get them! They have their day of pleasure now, but their day of pain later.
Psalms 37: 13 KJV “The Lord shall laugh at him (the wicked), for he sees his day is coming!”
Psalms 49: 17 KJV “For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul.”
Romans 2:8-9 KJV “To them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, there will be indignation and wrath. Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that does evil.”
The righteous have their day. What day? Now, unto the righteous there is a great deal of success with the Lord, and suffering as well. The scriptures tell us that in this world you will have tribulation. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. II Timothy 3:12 KJV, “Yes, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Not only will we have our days of suffering, but to the righteous there is a current day of reward. I’m healed now, for I am covered by the blood today. I am a winner now. God has a plan for us now. I’m blessed now. I can succeed now. Proverbs 11:31 KJV, “The righteous will be rewarded in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.” See this! Both have their day. Now this doesn’t make heaven any less sweet, but it does give us the priming we need to understand that your day is coming! To everything there is a season.
Now I get really aggravated with many “everything is okay” preachers. Many say it’s your season to win, succeed, etc. The problem with that is we probably won’t all hit a season of promise land blessings at the same time. The second problem with this “free” teaching is that is makes God into a spiritual and literal Santa Clause. The true doctrine is that God does love you and you have a time, a day, and a window in life that God has designed for you to actually enjoy life a little. You can attain this if you’re broke, in prison, or whatever. Let me show you what I mean.
In Acts 3, there is a man who has been lame for 40 years. Forty years of immobility. Can you imagine, but guess what? Every dog has his day. He has no Jesus because Jesus has gone back to heaven. Here comes Peter and John up to the temple through the gate called “Beautiful”. Look at this little picture of the last days: A BEAUTIFUL GATE! A BEAUTIFUL STRUCTURE! DO YOU THINK WE’RE IN THE DAY OF BIG FANCY CHURCHES EQUALS SPIRITUAL PEOPLE INSIDE OR WHAT? A lame man in a beautiful church. Peter says “We don’t have any money, but what we do have is Jesus!” In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. He then lifted him up and his feet and ankle bones received strength and he was made strong and perfectly sound in the presence of all. HE had his day! Forty years of being carried by men to sit and beg. I say disconnect from those you lean on for pity, and believe God that today is really the day. Well, Eric I don’t believe in all that positive stuff. Well, what do you believe in, the negative?
In John 5, for 38 years a man sat crippled at the pool of Mercy. For 38 years this went on. It’s not that he didn’t have legs, they just didn’t work. He’s not stupid, illiterate, or blind, he just can’t walk. This is something we take for granted. But every crippled dog has his day. Here comes Jesus with one question, “Do you want to be whole?” Not healed, saved, or delivered, but do you want to be completely WHOLE? Rise, take up your bed, and walk. He had his day!
In Luke 13, for 18 years there was a woman who was bent over with a crippling back problem. She had been starring at the ground for 18 years. It’s hard to have God vision with your head in the dirt. Jesus tells her, “Woman, be loosed from your infirmity,” and she stood up straight. Why? Because every dog has its day. She had her day! I think you understand that I’m not preaching or teaching that you should “wait until the day of FATE’”, NO! I am saying get up everyday and say, “Hey, maybe this will be the day. Believe it. Every dog has his day. Everybody can believe God and receive. Be encouraged today and don’t give up. I hope you’ve gotten a little crumb out of this. Every day is another opportunity. Even if you have to move the mountain little by little, every mountain has its day…..to crumble.
I love you,
Eric Clark
