Matthew 15:21-31 — Got faith that moves God and you?
What a beautiful, heart-stirring telling of a great faith that moved…a Phoenician woman! My heart sings at the woman’s faith and tenacity. She didn’t turn away from Jesus’ “insensitive, rude, racist rejections” — nope, none of that quitting stuff for her. She had true, deep faith that moves God! And the “few little crumbs” she got sufficed to drive away a demon! I believe that mother “glorified the God of Israel” every bit as much as the Israelites did.
This Canaanite mother believed in Jesus’ power. She also trusted His heart.
Suppose Jesus gave me only the scattered crumbs left over from someone else’s meal. Would that unmerited generosity be sufficient to my need?
Do I have faith that moves…me?
(Excerpted and adapted from Enough Faith for Crumbs?)
Can you take no answer? Do you have such faith that moves God?
I get tired of asking. I don’t like to be a pest. I don’t like to plead. I don’t like to feel like I’m at someone’s mercy, helplessly dependent on another’s whim and fancy. So if I ask once or twice and get no answer, I will generally quit in disgust and resignation. Unless being ignored makes me mad…but that’s another problem for another occasion.
Unfortunately, this mentality carries over into my praying too easily. After I petition God steadily and regularly for awhile without getting the desire of my heart, I tend to quit. How easily do you quit?
Read the rest here: Jesus Manifests His Compassion
How faithful and watchful am I as a parent? (Or as a child, for that matter!)
Do the cries of others push me across the wrong threshold?
Will I give up in the face of divine silence?
Is my faith (or hope) driven by a sense of entitlement (“God owes me….”)?
Would God be overjoyed to let it be as I will?
What do I do with my issues, challenges, problems, woes, and troubles?
Does God get enough glory from me?
(These questions are the introduction to my 2010 commentary on this same passage.)
