…Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table(Matthew 15:27 – ESV)
The obedience of faith is about pressing on, wrestling in prayer, and searching for God. This woman did not get upset that her people were compared to dogs, and she did not resent the Jews for seemingly being more blessed. She persisted; if Jesus was not going to do things the way she wanted or thought they needed to go, she was going to persist until she found out exactly what He would do by being diligent.
Jesus was teaching that faith isn’t about just believing that God can do something, or even that He will do something, it is communing with Him until He does do something. It may not be what we want in every case, but we are to be obedient and keep pressing on. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6).
True faith does not give up, it perseveres, it presses on, it presses in, and it does not always accept as final the first response it hears, either good or bad. It continues to seek God, and yet it is content with whatever it gets, all the while asking, seeking, and knocking on the door.
This woman knew that faith was obediently seeking for the Master, despite a seeming rejection from the Master Himself. We would do well to recognize that when God does not give us our desires (even righteous ones) “in time” He may be trying to get us to draw even closer, or teaching us some other lesson. Press on: there are no shortcuts to maturity. We are not ready to handle every blessing God has for us until we are ready to wrestle and rest at the same time. You may feel like God isn’t feeding you the filet mignon right now, but keep asking Him until He at least gives you the scraps.
5 comments:
JR is doing better, not in critical care anymore, moved to another floor, has phone in room, has finally gotten to eat and was able to swallow it all down, having MRI tonight, results tomorrow, left side still paralyzed, leg and arm both have feeling, though, and arm didn't before, so that is a good sign...
Thank you all for your prayers, please continue, and I will update ASAP, we still don't really know anything yet, he is just out the critical stage, but the extent and the long term effects we do not know...
For His Glory,
JD
Oh thats a good one JD, great practical application to what you wrote! Thank you for the time and effort you always put forth, both here and Riverside!
JD, please tell Margie that I have been praying for her!!
I will, thank you so very much...
JR is being moved to another hospital in Gainesville (1 hour north of us) for therapy. He does not have use of his left side, but will probably be moved today. He is out of the critical stage, but we still do not have any test results yet...
Thank you and God bless you for your continued prayers...updates as soon as I get them...
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