Pray:
Lord, teach me to persevere in prayer and to understand that Your heart is open to me always.
Read:
Matthew 15:21-28
Reflect:
What did the woman know that the disciples did not?
When I got my first dog, my cousin gave me some advice: "Give her what you eat." Meaning leftovers, rather like the crumbs in verse 27. Laughingly, we used to change it to "give her what you would like to eat." Of course, this conversation between Jesus and the Canaanite woman is not really about pooches.
"Dog" could be a disrespectful word that the Jews used for Gentiles. Jesus, now in a Gentile area, certainly does not want to cause offense. He wants people to understand that he came for the Jews first (24) but that he has not cut off the Gentiles.
How much of this the woman understands, we do not know. But Jesus is testing her response. And he likes her answer! She is desperate for her daughter to be healed, and she will answer Jesus back, respectfully and firmly, to achieve that (27).
Sometimes we are frightened to answer Jesus back, to persist in our prayers when the answer seems to be no. We can learn a lot from this woman. She shows persistence and demonstrates her faith in actions and words. She knows, intuitively perhaps, that with Jesus there is always plenty to go round.
Apply:
Even if other followers of Christ seem to believe God will not answer a true need, trust his heart and keep pressing in.
Pray:
Lord, help me to be bold and persevering in prayer because I know and trust Your heart.
