Persistent Faith
“Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly. Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. “The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table (Matthew 15:21-27.”
What parent wouldn’t do whatever they had to do to take care of their hurting child. In the story of the Canaanite woman, we find someone who is of mixed ancestry approaching Jesus. Canaanite’s worshiped Baal, an idol however she is found pursuing Jesus. She’s desperate but there is something about Christ that compels her to reach out to Him for help. She is a descendant of Israel’s enemies, why would she come to Him?
This woman who had grown up worshipping idols dares to come to Jesus the Holy One for help. Desperate times call for desperate measures and this woman was interceding on behalf of her child. Initially she was rebuffed, “Send her away, for she cries out after us”, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of Israel”. She refused to quit even when Jesus gives what seems a denigrating reply, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs”. Her response conveyed three things, a refusal to be offended, a refusal to quit (an echo of the wrestling Jacob had with God in Genesis 32) and the faith to believe Jesus could and would heal her daughter. And He did!
The Canaanite woman exhibited persistent faith refusing to let people, circumstance or otherwise to prevent her from coming to Jesus. No matter how hard things are, no matter what others may think or say, let nothing prevent you from persevering and trusting in your faith in God!