Matthew 15:28 NIV
Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Many would have read the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman who came to Jesus for the healing of her daughter. I'm sure many would have also wondered why the woman stayed through the insults, the avoidance and the attempts to send her away. She stayed through and got what she wanted, even though there had been great obstacles on her way. Let's relate to a few of the lessons that this story teaches us: first, by virrue of the acceptable convention at that time, she did not deserve what she got. She wasn't an Israelite then and there was no covenant of healing with her, yet she got what she wasn't entitled to. Why? Because she persisted. It must be noted that nothing good comes easy, neither does it just come by claiming it in words. My life must show that I sincerely and earnestly desire it.
Even though Jesus gave a parable that seemed like an insult, stating that it is not proper to take the bread meant for the children and give it to dogs, consider the response of the woman. Pause for a moment and ask yourself what your response would have been if you had been told the same words. I'm sure there would have been an 'appropriate and worthy' reply. For this woman, what she wanted was too important to let mere words bother her. There is the second lesson: it must be the same with me. Words of men must not keep me from what the Word of God has promised me. If men say whatever it is they want to say, I have to hold on to what God says. It was what Jesus said that mattered at the end, not what the disciples said or even what Jesus said initially. It therefore means that as long as God has not closed the chapter and verse of my life, the book is still open and more good things can be added. I must keep asking God what I desire until I get it or he tells me it is not time for it yet. What man has got to say is not important; it is what God says that counts. My faith must take root in what God has promised and watch him do the incredible and the miraculous. God's time of favour is here.
No comments:
Post a Comment