Pressing through attack

In the gap of that silence, there comes a message, not from God but from the world. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” Jesus’ disciples, those who represent him and claim to have a special connection with him, reject her. They do not sympathize with her pain, but rather, thinks she is being a nuisance. Jesus replies to his disciples stating only what is already on their minds. He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” That’s the message that the world gives, and it is the same message that religion gives: only a select few people are worthy of such a blessing from God. You either have to be holy or chosen or be a “real” Christian to be considered by God. 

What can I do about the trials of persevering?

It is not just an external obstacle that the woman needs to overcome; it is an internal struggle against her own feelings. Can you imagine the feelings of inadequacy? Internally, she knows herself and the many moral weaknesses she has, and perhaps even believes that the reason she’s been suffering is because she deserves it.

With all of these feelings in her heart combined with the message of the world, even coming from those who are supposed to be closely connected with Jesus, she endures their message, deals with her feelings of inadequacy and continues to come to Jesus with an even greater humility and earnestness. The woman perseveres through the attack by humbling herself before Jesus. The woman came and knelt before him. She is able to press through the attack by re-focusing on her goal to receive help from Jesus alone. “Lord, help me!” she said. She does not respond to the disciples because she didn’t come all that way to receive help from them. Her goal is to tell Jesus of her troubles and ask him for help. Her heart cries out to Jesus, “I need you.”

I can more easily ignore the message of attack when it comes from the world or from religion, but when this message enters from my own thinking, it’s hard to struggle against. We are made to feel inadequate, unworthy or just plain not part of that crowd. I feel like there is a laundry list of things that I needed to do before I can feel right with God. Everything from stopping sins to doing my quiet times more often. Unless I do these things, I will not receive God’s direction or presence in my life. When I fail to do these things, my feeling of inadequacy grow until I give up and turn back from seeking God. Later, I think about the role of grace in the equation and take a real first step toward pressing through these attacks. I try to humble myself before God. I do this by fasting for two days and when I pray, I pray on my knees. In the process of humbling myself, I re-focus my mind on God, and it becomes easier to dispel the lies in the message of attack.

“Where is this message of attack coming from, from God, the world, other Christians,” I ask myself. “Are they mature Christians?” In the context of this passage, the disciples do not have the correct reasoning. Just a few sentences before Jesus says to his disciples, “Are you still so dull?” In the place of humility, the seeds first sprout where I seek Him more than I seek an answer to my problems. I pray, “Lord, you help me.” I’m seeking grace from you, an undeserved blessing, and I want the grace and help that you give, not what the world gives. We do not have to be surprised and crushed when we encounter this message meant to discourage us. Instead we persevere and say, “I want help from you, Lord – not from people or institutions that are rejecting me.” We can even be encouraged by the attack, knowing that we are on the right track. We humble ourselves and wait for his words to us.

Pressing through fire

Jesus finally does speak to the woman with words that, depending on our perspective, can be terribly difficult to hear or can be the most gracious thing to our ears. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” When we read her story, we are most shocked by Jesus’ apparent refusal to grant her request and insulting comparison to a dog. As harsh and even confusing this might have been to the woman, you have got to admire her perseverance. She perseveres through his hard saying because she is humble. It is her humility that allows her to press through to encounter Jesus. She is humble because she is not above being called a dog; she doesn’t take offense and leave in defensiveness. She is not too proud for her request for help and mercy to be compared to bread. She doesn’t react in bitterness or offense to his harsh statement.

Her words and actions are a window into what is going on in her heart. She remains on her knees and says, Yes, Lord. “Yes, it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs. Yes, I am a dog and not a child. Yes, I need bread.” She refuses to debate his standard, her position, or her needs. With her mouth, she proclaims agreement with Jesus, and with her posture, she remains humble.

With this humility she continues but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters’ table. She says to Jesus, “you are the master, and you will not let the dogs starve!” She believes in his faithfulness that even the dogs will get what they need to live. Compare this reaction to the accepted view of his day: that the Samaritans were not worthy of blessing. This shatters the paradigm of their culture. Again, it’s not an earth shattering proclamation of faith, but she obeys to what faith she has and walks in it. A master would not let the dogs starve. This heart of humility and faith allows her to deepen the capacity of her heart-character. She arrives to a place where she just wants to be near Jesus, and believes that her needs will be met. She clings to the promise in faith and declares her desire for closeness with Jesus.

It is to that heart, that then Jesus answered, “Woman you have great faith!  Your request is granted.” Through this process and through her journey, this woman’s heart changes. It transforms her heart into one that desires the master more than anything. I believe that almost as a side note, the story concludes and her daughter was healed from that very hour. The apex of this story is not when the daughter is healed but when Jesus says to the woman, “you have great faith.” In my walk with God, these are the greatest times in my life, when I feel him communicate to me, “well done.” Afterwards when all of the circumstances come together, that is just like icing on the cake. In each of the situations I mentioned before, the fact that I got that the job or got my money back was just icing – what I brag about is the change in my heart-character and God’s exclamation of joy because of it.

God is more interested in our hearts than in our circumstances. Put another way, he is more interested in who we are more than what he can give to us. Jesus challenges this woman on this point when he speaks about children, dogs, and bread. He cuts right to the concerns most important to him – the place the woman has in the kingdom. He challenges her faith, but the most amazing thing is that he never treats her like a dog. The words he speaks to her are not the kind uttered to a dog in his kingdom. Jesus speaks these words to his children. She does not just receive crumbs from the table, but a feast, and more importantly, a seat at God’s table.

The key to persevering through fire is humility and faith. The woman walks with the faith she has – simply that God’s faithfulness could provide for her needs. “You will not let the dogs starve,” she proclaims. Perhaps she has experienced first-hand the sustaining grace of God, keeping herself and her family alive for so many years. After her encounter, she leaves with a new revelation of God; He is the one who changes hearts and builds faith, one who transforms dogs into children. That’s the amazing blessing of God. The desert leads us to a place of perseverance when we look forward to the heart-character God is after. When we press through the desert times in humility and faith, and our heart changes, even our beliefs on what we need transform. In that heart change, we receive what we’ve been searching for – Him. His voice and a new revelation of who he is – a holy encounter. The things that we lay down to seek Him are fulfilled, just as the icing. Our hearts can now contain that blessing.

When the attack comes, I remind myself of God’s true character

1. Observation - How do you feel about Jesus’ apparent rejection?

2. Understanding - Have you ever felt rejected? What were the circumstances around the rejection?

3. Application - How can I persevere today?