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“And Jesus arose and went away from there to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He went into a house and did not want anyone to know [that He was there]; but it was not possible for Him to be hidden [from public notice]. Instead, at once, a woman whose little daughter had (was under the control of) an unclean spirit heard about Him and came and flung herself down at His feet.” Mark 7:24 AMP.

This was not Israel, and it wasn’t where Jesus’ first ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel took place. But even in Gentile areas, He had become quite known. And now a woman comes looking for Him because her daughter is demon-possessed.

In the mental health arena, I’m asked a lot: Do you think this could be demon possession? It is most often asked in regard to schizophrenia and related conditions. Because these conditions are so bizarre and strange to those who aren’t medical or psychiatric professionals, people assume it’s probably demon possession. Often I have to try and tell them a little bit about how demon possession begins.

All of us, of course, can have distorted views that come from demons. We’re really voluntarily thinking these thoughts that demons are trying to influence us to think. But demon possession is where it actually takes control of you in ways that you have no way of getting free from or choosing to part from it. We’re told, however, before demon possession rebellion occurs.

Now do you know what the word for rebellion is in the modern medical world? Addiction. We know it’s harmful for us, and we continue to do it. We continue to choose to go the wrong way. And then it wraps us with cords of steel. It is actually willful, continuous disobedience that opens the door for actual demon possession.

The mystery of this case is that it occurred in a younger girl. Of course, addictions can occur at any age. Yet, I don not think demons would have been able to take possession of her if she wasn’t doing things that were wrong and, at some level, knew these things were wrong. Again, we don’t know the reason for this demon possession, but it had gotten to the point where this girl had no control and it was a very sad situation. Now, we have the Canaanite mother coming to Jesus for redemption.

“Now the woman was a Greek (Gentile), a Syrophoenician by nationality. And she kept begging Him to drive the demon out of her little daughter. And He said to her, ‘First let the children be fed, for it is not becoming or proper or right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the [little house] dogs.’” v. 26, 27.

We’re given some insight from the Spirit of Prophecy as to why Jesus treated her as He did, by calling her a dog and referring to the Israelites as children. It was a teaching for the disciples. The disciples thought that she really wasn’t worthy of being taken care of, period. She ought to just leave, or the disciples ought to have permission to have her leave. In fact, in the Matthew account they say, “Master allow us to just get her out,” because He was ignoring her.

He acted like He didn’t hear her, He was doing other things, and they thought something like: Well this is the normal way that you would treat someone that you don’t have a lot of respect for. So they assumed He was acting the role any scribe or Pharisee would have done in the same situation. But this was a teaching of the disciples. And how was the Lord going to deal with this?

Concerning this dialogue, we’re told by the Spirit of Prophecy that the Canaanite woman recognized, even in His statement calling her a dog, that Jesus had compassion. She could recognize the countenance. The facial nerve is a cranial nerve, and the countenance can tell a lot about what’s in the mind and what’s in the heart.

She recognized the countenance of this man actually had compassion. That’s why she pressed. Had He really been like the scribes and Pharisees, she would have read His countenance and said, There’s no hope for me. But instead she recognized, This is a loving man. I don’t know why He’s saying what He’s saying, but this is a loving man. She saw the opportunity in being called a dog, and she used that opportunity to present her case further. And her daughter was healed.

“But she answered Him, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the small pups under the table eat the little children’s scraps of food.’ And He said to her, ‘Because of this saying, you may go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter [permanently].’ And she went home and found the child thrown on the couch, and the demon departed.” v. 28-30.

In one of our Depression Recovery Programs, we had a husband and wife with three young daughters. The man was raised in an Adventist home, had married outside the faith, and his wife had eventually become an Adventist. But now they were having all sorts of marital issues; the wife had gone back to drinking, she’d decided she was through with Ellen White, that Adventism was a strange religion and she was done with it. The husband was beside himself because she had told him that she didn’t love him anymore, and hadn’t loved him for two years.

Now as we unraveled the onion, it turned out that her problem was with those who were representing Adventism, not Adventism itself. The real issue was the one who had been raised in the church was no longer acting as priest in the home and acting in a compassionate manner. When there were issues in the home he would dialogue with his mother about those issues. He was going outside the circle, and the mother started to develop feelings of animosity towards the daughter-in-law; so there was a major competition between wife and mother-in-law. The husband was depressed because the wife was acting inappropriately. Yet the reality was, she would never have been acting inappropriately had he been the type of disciple that the Lord wanted his disciples to be.

What a turnaround we saw over the course of the program. At the end, the wife was all for Ellen White because she saw in Adventist Home Chapter 27 that you should never go outside the family circle. If you have a disagreement with your wife, you need to go to your wife, and not outside the circle. Seeing that, she actually became a strong advocate of the Spirit of Prophecy. They gave a wonderful testimony at the end of the program and they’ve got a real setup for marriage again.

Here’s the reality of what happens when we know the truth that we know. If we are vulnerable in any area, the devil is going to attack us in that area, and it’s going to be a major issue that will lead a lot of others astray. This was a good Adventist home after all, but a major blind spot was going to cause additional lost souls—not only the wife, but those three young daughters. The disciples also had a major blind spot.

My question to me personally and to all of us is: What are our blind spots? In our Depression Recovery Program, the ones who speak the greatest praise at the end are often the Canaanites. Just like this woman who sought out the Lord, often it’s the Canaanites that respond the most. So what areas could we be following the Lord’s counsel in far more closely and thus be a far more attractive influence for the Canaanites, and for the ones surrounding the Canaanites?