Persevering in Prayer – Matthew 15:21-28
My thesaurus and dictionary are real tools for me. This topic of persevering moved me to look at some definitions. To persevere is to pursue, continue, endure, resolute, determination, remain. In other words, don’t give up after a few encounters in prayer. Prayer is a lot of things, but often we don’t attach the word “work” to it. Our minds can be preoccupied, wander, and if we’re real honest, at night we can fall asleep in the middle of it.
Here’s another woman who isn’t named, but her faith is honored before a group of men who felt Jesus needn’t give her the time of day. After all she was a woman and a Gentile. So she definitely wasn’t one of the crowd.
These were Jesus’ disciples for goodness sake, and you’d have thought that some of His attitudes and behavior would be rubbing off by now. But in this scenario, they found this woman a real live bother to them.
She obviously had known they were all in town and went after Jesus to try and get a moment with him. After all, her daughter was suffering terribly from demon-possession. This is her precious bone-of-her-bone and flesh-of-her-flesh. Her love was passionate for her daughter and no doubt stressed about her condition.
With all this effort to try and get a moment with the Savior, she finally cuts through the disciples and their discouraging comments and blurts out her request, only to receive no verbal response from Jesus.
Have you and I been there? You bet we have. We read His word, seek Him, pour out our hearts to Him, and yet sometimes we’re met with silence. We’ve talked to the Lord about our concerns and then can feel they never got above the ceiling of the room we were in. Or, we’ve been praying about an issue for months or years, and nothing has “seemingly” changed.
I’ve learned in my journey that God is working all the time, but much of His work is what I’d call underground and timely. Sometimes the change that takes place is the change “in us.”
Perhaps like you, I’ve found that Jesus wasn’t always a quick responder with words. He thought before He spoke. Sometimes “the lack of words” can serve a very real purpose as well as speak volumes too. Whenever He did speak, it had purpose to it.
There seemed to be some kind of pause in the scene, because the disciples moved in to urge Him to send her away. And after all, she was a Gentile woman whom the Jews weren’t to be speaking to anyway.
Wonderfully funny how God breaks through all the social and cultural barriers. This would be another encounter in the disciples’ “school of learning” and for us too.
The first recorded words out of His lips to this woman seemed to indicate; “Aren’t you aware that according to custom a Jew isn’t even to speak to a Gentile?”
This mother-in-anguish pushes past all that cultural information. I thought it odd that she never addresses the cultural facts Jesus puts before her. She by-passes all of that incidental and kneels down before Him. She gets personal and worshipful.
She’s now demonstrating in the tone of her words and her physical position that she realizes who He is, the Lord, and is bowing in reverence. Can’t we almost hear the tone of voice she uses in her soft, but urgent cry, “Lord, help me!”
This woman, for goodness sake, knows she’s a woman and she could care less that she stands out in this crowd. Her daughter’s need is critical and this “Mama ain’t happy” and is in dire stress about it. If you’re a mother with a sick child, you know your antennas are out and up and no sleep is coming to your eyes until help is on the way.
She called Him Lord. She knew who He was and believed He and only He was her source of help in her daughter’s severe condition. This mama was bothering them with her persistent begging. Odd, don’t you think that these were the men who were “learning about Jesus’ mission” and “learning to be like Him.” They certainly failed in this object lesson.
Let’s learn from them. Jesus is kind and full of compassion. They lacked both, along with insensitivity. After all she must have been repeating herself and at least some of her need as she tagged along the guys.
They had people to see, places to go. These men were involved in the “school of spiritual training” and they couldn’t be bothered with the “practical needs of life, could they.” After all, this was God in the flesh and there were important things to teach His men.
They met with resistance on her part. She had become now an inconvenience to them. Have you and I been there at all? Odd how it seems to happen, we’re busy, preoccupied with important things and our little one, or a neighbor or friend comes over or calls with a need or hurt.
Our thoughts can go crazy on this one: this isn’t a convenient time. Needs seldom occur between the hours of 8am to 5pm, when it’s more convenient to help. I think God is about to teach his guys about the day-to-day “divine appointments” that are before us and we’re unable to see them because they’re either so practical we miss them, or we’re so preoccupied to see them with our earthly vision.
I was at the optometrist’s office getting my first pair of glasses when I noticed a sweet little sign on the wall. It was a picture of a little boy with a BIG pair of glasses. The caption read…. “Dear God, I can see you much better with my new glasses.” This has always stuck with me.
Don’t you wonder sometimes that Jesus may seem silent at first, so we’ll quiet down and lean in closer to listen? Another thought toward this idea is that in His quietness, He’s adjusting the “lens of our heart” so we see the opportunities “in those interruptions”….better yet, “divine appointments” in our days.
Let’s go back to the silence again because I feel it has great significance. The men were probably quite vocal about this “female interruption,” and Jesus may have waited until they were quiet…to continue his interaction with the woman. We’re not told for sure.
Now, back to the scene. She’s now down on her knees, reverently addressing Him as Lord, please help me. She’s not demanding, but agonizingly pleading.
After the silence, Jesus reminds her of His mission to the Israelites first.
Can we hear him quietly saying, “You know, I’ve really come to the Jews first, as their Messiah. Then they were to take the message of salvation to the rest of the world.
Doesn’t it look like He is testing her faith and all the while wanting to use this “opportunity” to show His guys that their faith and her faith always draws out His heart for all people who are earnestly seeking Him as their Messiah. His mission was to all people, not just the Jews. And here was going to be a real live illustration.
I didn’t see it at first, his comment is like a “brick wall,” and I think He was testing her to see how she’d handle this information. He was just being truthful about His mission.
She hurdles this wall beautifully and persistently……”Lord, please help me.” She recognized He was ‘her Messiah’ and source of help in this demon-possession of her daughter.
He used a term “dog” indicating what the Jews’ attitude was toward Gentiles. They were considered like dogs to receive God’s blessing. He was contrasting what Jews thought about Gentiles receiving God’s blessings.
Another hurdle to leap over for this persistent Mom! It was as if she was saying, “Lord, I know they refer to us Gentiles as dogs, but I’m not here to debate that. I’m willing to be called a dog, as long as you’ll respond to me, my Master.”
Here was the diamond in the story. She reverenced Jesus as “her Lord and Messiah,” whether a female Gentile or not…she wanted His help, His blessing, His care for her daughter. She knew who He was and wasn’t going to leave Him alone until He attended to her.
Here was “faith in action”….persistent faith. God saw this mom’s heart of great faith and honored her faith. Her daughter was healed that very hour. God responded according to His will and purpose in her life and the life of her daughter.
Let’s not ask and expect that God will do what we ask, when we ask and the manner in which we think His response should come. He has plans and ways that are higher and serve greater purposes; so let’s allow Him to work His will and plan in: His way – His time – His method and for His glory and purposes.
Our need is to be persistent until we may hear His no or in our seeking, He may change our requests.
We need to rest and trust in His wisdom in how, when and how He responds will always be for our good, and His glory.
Cups of Cold Water 