Then she came and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she said, yes, LORD, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their Master’s table.” Matthew 15: 25-27, NKJV
Eternal God, thank You for putting on our lips the words we need, when we pray to You. Now give us accepting hearts to be hearers, and doers of Your will. Amen
This is our second day in this series leading to Mother’s Day. Today we are going to be talking about the Syrophoenician woman. In the gospel according to Matthew, this woman is referred to as a Canaanite, because of her roots. Mark refers to her as a Syrophoenician because of where she was living. According to the Interpreter’s Bible, p. 441, “she was from a people of ‘reproach,’ ” Her kind was not appreciated by the Jews. She had to have been very desperate to have gone to a Jew seeking help. But this was not just any Jew. She had heard about Jesus, and saw in Him her “only hope” (The Desire of Ages, p. 352). Note her words, as she approached Jesus and His disciples, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed” (22). She has come with a request for healing for her daughter. If you are a mother, biological, or emotional, or spiritual, you can understand her plight. Her child needs help, and she will stop at nothing, until she can secure that help for her child! She is met with a rather strange reaction from Jesus, “…He answered her not a word” (23).
No answer does not mean no. It does not mean God did not hear you; or, He is ignoring you. It does not mean that you are not worthy! It does not mean that He has abandoned you! If in those difficult moments you can only remember, that you are dealing with a God of love it will help. The songwriter put it this way, “When you can’t trace His hands, trust His heart!”
Jesus might be using your experience to teach someone a lesson! Notice the behavior of the disciples toward the woman. They have just heard her deeply sorrowful request: “Have mercy on me…my daughter is severely demon-possessed.” Yet they respond, “Send her away…” (23). It was His intention that they might observe their behavior towards others of a different race, in comparison to the way He would subsequently grant her request (The Desire of Ages, p. 352).
God might be calling you to a higher level in your prayer life. “Then she came and worshipped Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me!’ He might be trying to turn your prayer life into a life of worship. Hard times will certainly facilitate that process! When just asking is not enough, I will worship You Lord! I will knock, I will seek Your face in worship! I will press on to higher ground!
Learn to see in apparent rebukes, your greatest opportunity. This experience might be preparing you for your greatest answer to prayer, ever! It was for this woman! “But He answered and said, ‘It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.’ And she said, ‘yes, LORD, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their Master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered and said to her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour” (25-28).
Let the crumbs fall in abundance Lord! Let them fall!