Matthew 15:23-28

“23. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

24. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

26. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.

27. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. ”

Have you ever sought the Lord for something and did not get an answer?

Have you ever sought the Lord but felt like God was not listening to your prayer?

If you are like me, you have. Many times this lack of response would lead us to feel like we have displeased God or that we have done something wrong. Most of the time God is just testing us to see what our next move will be.

Will you give up? Will you get mad at God? Will you turn your back on him? Or will you try to go about making your own miracle? By the way, doing this usually makes matters worse.

When we are seeking God, we cannot afford to be impatient. Being impatient shows a lack of faith and leads to poor decisions. These poor decisions will place us in a place of desperation. If we are not careful desperation can cause you to have a sense of hopelessness. The foundation of all these types of emotions are a lack of faith and trust in God.

The believer must have confidence in God. We must be persuaded that “he is, and he is able…”. This confidence in God will cause us to exhibit the same perseverance as the woman with the issue of blood, and as the mother in the scripture text. In the face of what looked like rejection, she did not give up. She knew what she needed from God, and she kept after it until she received it.

Notice Jesus remained silent. He did not send her away as the disciples wanted. He allowed her to stay. His silence was more of an invitation or opportunity, if you will.

The mother seized the opportunity. She worshipped God. She the responded to Jesus’ comments, showing her faith. Jesus, knew who she was, the mother knew the Jewish customers. But she would not allow that to stop her. She knew this was her daughter’s opportunity to be delivered.

What about you? Are you having conversation with God in prayer? Where you speak and give space to God to speak? Are you listening to what he is saying? Or are your prayers one sided?

Are you worshipping God before bringing your petitions to him? Or are you rattling off what you want and getting up and moving on with your day?

Are you in a place where you have not been answered. Are you patiently waiting (passively, with no actions)? Or are you waiting in worship (persevering in faith)?

Don’t mistake silence for rejection. Continue to pursue God for what you need. Put some works with your faith.

In the end, the mother got just what she needed for her daughter. You can have a successful outcome too. As long as you don’t give up on God.

Remember, delay is not rejection. It is an opportunity to show God you are in it to win it.

Have a blessed day.

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