What do we do when God is silent? We cry out to Him again and again – but hear nothing in return? This is a reality of living in relationship with the Lord, as shown in the Psalms, and even in this story with Jesus.
Jesus cares for this woman, and for her daughter. Jesus has a mission first to the Jews, but that does not mean He does not love or care for Gentiles – He does ministry among them. This is a story about faith. When we cry out to God and there is no answer, it is a hard, growing lesson in faith.
How does this woman respond? What can we learn?
She never stops. She sees that Jesus is silent, but knows He has the power to help her daughter. She never stops asking.
She knows Who He is. She won’t go away because she can see (faith) that Jesus has power from God to help her. She does not take His silence and walk away; she stays because she knows who He is.
She accepts a possible insult to get her heart’s desire. Jesus is not calling her a dog; He is using a typical way that Jews talked about Gentiles to see the woman’s faith. She accepts the label – and gets her prayer answered – and huge praise from Jesus (she has “great faith”). Often we don’t want God’s answer unless He will do things our way. This woman does not care how Jesus answers or what He calls her – she wants her daughter healed, and knows who Jesus is.
These are huge lessons for prayer, and for growing when God has us in a season of silence.
http://nlt.scripturetext.com/matthew/15-21.htm
