July 13, 2024
"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."
- Matthew 15:28
The woman with the demon-possessed daughter in Matthew 15:21-28 had the odds against her. She was not a Jew and Jesus had called her a dog. By calling her a dog, Jesus was, in essence, saying she was foolish, immoral and wicked (Proverbs 26:11, Deuteronomy 23:18, Psalm 22:16). Despite all these disqualifications, she exhibited such faith that Jesus commended it as ‘great’, healing her daughter in the process.
In the exchange between Jesus and the woman in verses 24 through 28, something unique happened. First, Jesus had disqualified her based on her origin as not being eligible for the miracle she sought. In her response, rather than being cast down by this disqualification, she worshipped Jesus saying…” Lord, help me” (verse 25).
We learn from the experience of this woman that on our journey of faith, on the road to the realization of our miracle, when doubt, unbelief and seeming disqualifications set in, a way to stay in the game, to keep our faith intact is through worship…asking God for His help!
You would think that with this first rebuff, Jesus would have attended to the woman afterwards. No! The Lord, at the second time of asking according to verse 26, let her know that she was a dog and again, was not fit to receive the miracle she was after.
Herein lies the matter. The woman, in the face of this next rebuff, responded by acknowledging Jesus in verse 27a “Yes, Lord…”. She knew (and believed) that indeed, Jesus is Lord and Saviour and He could heal her daughter. She also recognized her limitations and eulogized the reach and limitlessness of God’s mercies in verse 27b “Yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table”.
By her honest admission of God and God’s mercies, she demonstrated faith. What followed was a transformation of the status of the woman. Jesus who had referred to her as a dog in verse 26 called her a woman in verse 28 “Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman…!”
In the face of the troubles, we may have been going through, that require us to demonstrate faith, we need to acknowledge our limitations before God, recognizing Him as our All-sufficient source to provide the solution we seek.
We may have been operating as dogs, going at it in our strength and understanding, repeating our foolishness, being immoral and outright wicked. By the example in the story of this woman, we learn that by acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, recognizing our limitations and trusting in His mercies, our faith is transformed, and we receive our miracle.
Song of Worship
Be it unto me
Song by Don Moen
Prayer - Dear Lord, thank You for the transformation of my faith that comes from worshiping you in the face of doubt, unbelief and even disqualification. Let my trust in You be ever so more and that Your Mercy prevails over every situation in my life in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Bible in 1 year: Psalms 7-9; Acts 18
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