Luke 9 Part 2 (2)

Pray Psalm 35.1-4.
Plead my cause, O LORD, with those who strive with me;
Fight against those who fight against me.
Take hold of shield and buckler,
And stand up for my help.
Also draw out the spear,
And stop those who pursue me.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”
Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor
Who seek after my life;
Let those be turned back and brought to confusion
Who plot my hurt.

Sing Psalm 35.1-4.
(Creation: The Spacious Firmament on High)
Contend, O Lord, with those who strive with me! My shield, my strength and buckler be!
Engage with spear and axe to fight and rescue me with all Your might!
My soul with Your salvation soothe, and vanquish all who oppose Your truth.
Let those ashamed and humbled be who would destroy and humble me.

Read Luke 9.28-42; meditate on verses 37-42.

Preparation
1. What was wrong with this child?

2. How did Jesus respond?

Meditation
Most of this passage is straightforward. A man with a sick and demon-possessed child cried out to Jesus for help, the disciples being unable to heal him (vv. 37-40). Jesus responded by healing the boy (v. 42). The difficult part of this text is verse 41. Jesus speaks to a “faithless and perverse generation”, expressing what sounds like exasperation. The question is, To whom was He speaking?

Many commentators favor the man and the crowd. But the man brought his child to Jesus, first via the disciples in Jesus’ absence, then straight to Jesus as soon as He returned from the mount. That sounds like all the other people of faith Jesus has commended thus far in His ministry. Could He have been speaking to the disciples, chiding them for their inability to heal this child? Yet they apparently did everything they had seen Jesus do and had learned from Him. They acted in faith.

I believe Jesus was speaking to the demon, as if to say, “Are you still hanging around? Didn’t you get the memo about your master’s defeat in the wilderness? Didn’t you hear about the Legion and swine? You truly are faithless and perverse, the whole generation of you. I’m getting tired of having to put up with you. Out with you!”

When we are faithless, when we fail to trust Jesus or to believe and submit to His Word; and when we act in perverse and sinful ways, we have crossed the line into the ranks of the enemy of our soul. At such times, seek the Lord for healing and revival, and be done with those who would destroy your soul.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Without giving too much press time to the enemy, we need to see what was happening with this boy: “As he was still coming [to Jesus], the demon threw him down and convulsed him” (Lk. 9.42).

Isn’t that just like him? Always trying to trip people up on their way to new life in Christ. Or a new day with Him. Or perhaps something as simple as a new attitude for the day towards the people in their Personal Mission Field. It might even be as we are coming to a more dedicated and obedient walk with our King.
Whatever it is, the devil wants to trip us up, throw us down, convulse us, bruise us, and dissuade us from a closer walk with Jesus.

Our enemy does not wish us well. He is a murderer and the father of lies. Nobody does evil better than he (Jn. 8.44). And so, we are to give him no place in our lives (Eph. 4.27). We must come to our senses and escape the snares that he sets out to trap us in (2 Tim. 2.26). And we must strive to be sober and vigilant because our adversary walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour and ruin us (1 Pet. 5.8).

But Jesus, the great Healer and Helper, through His Holy Spirit destroyed, and will continue to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3.8). And we get to participate in his demise. “Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law contend with them” (Prov. 28.4). Just by keeping God’s Law in our own lives and in our specific Personal Mission Field we fight against evil. We avoid the trips, snares, and bruises.

We must be strong and encourage others as they are “coming to Jesus” to stand firm in their faith; and to be ready for the devil who will want, more than anything, to throw them down and convulse them. Jesus is with us, and with them, to rebuke those “faithless and perverse” demons, to heal us, and to give us safely back to our Father in heaven. Just like Jesus did with this helpless little boy and his dad (Lk. 9.42). Jesus prayed for those of us left in the world, “Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are…Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth…I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (Jn. 17.11, 17, 23).

Knowing this gives us the strength to keep coming to Jesus. Daily. For the love, for the work, and for the safety He provides from our ultimately impotent enemy.

For reflection
1. How does the devil try to make you stumble, to bring you down? How do you deal with him at such times?

2. What does it mean to “resist” the devil? What happens if we don’t?

3. How can believers help one another to avoid falling into the traps and snares of the devil?

That is to say, perverse, contrary and always bending from the truth, and so obstinate that they could not be persuaded in the truth, nor could they abide or suffer themselves to be taught or persuaded to anything that was profitable for them. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), An Ecclesiasticall Exposition upon Saint Matthewe 17.2

Pray Psalm 35.33-39.
Pray for the Lord’s protection this day against all enemies who seek to undo your soul. Ask Him to fill you with joy and to empower you to bear witness to Him at every opportunity.

Sing Psalm 35.22-28.
(Creation: The Spacious Firmament on High)
Stir up, O God, and wake to my right; defend my cause with all Your might!
And judge me in Your righteousness; let not my foes bring me to distress.
Let shame, dishonor be their gown who would Your holy ones bring down.
Let all who would themselves exalt be humbled, shamed, and brought to naught.

Let all rejoice triumphantly who would our vindication see.
Let them exalt the Lord above who love the ones that Jesus loves.
And let our tongues declare Your praise, and worship Jesus all our days.
Let those whom You are pleased to bless forever declare Your righteousness!

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.