In his podcast on depression, Rev. Todd Pepperkorn has an excellent devotion on Mark 7:24-30 (actually Matthew 15's parallel passage) titled, "When God doesn't seem to care"
I'd like to connect this same text to what he posted today ("Abandonment and the Pastor"). Our church's 3 year lectionary last Sunday (Luke 13:34) brought us Jesus weeping over Jerusalem's unbelief. Like the woman in Mark 7:24f, the church weeps as she sees the devil have his way with her children. We pray and pray, and it can feel like we are getting the silent treatment from the Lord. Yet Mark 7:24-30 assures us that the Lord does hear. And so we confidently pray such words as the Prayer on Thursday in the Treasury of Daily Prayer (p. 1308), knowing that the gates of Hell will not overcome the Lord's Church, for the same God who answered Abraham's servant (Genesis 24:12-14) will answer our prayer as well.
I am going to do a fair amount of my little podcasts on the TDP readings, fwiw.
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