mio devo 1

"Jesus did not answer a word" - Matthew 15:23

Matthew 15:21-28

Sometimes the hardest part is waiting for an answer. Sometimes the deepest pains are those that simply come from silence. We spend much of our spiritual lives waiting on God, begging for an answer and pleading for help. The woman in this story knew what Jesus could do. She may not have understood the salvation that He offered, but as a mother with a child in suffering, a man who was working real and tangible miracles right where she lived was an answered prayer.

So as she called out to Jesus, the loving God made flesh, He did the same thing he always does: something that doesn't make sense. The one sent to heal the sick was ignoring the cries of the needy. Not only that, she was persistent to the point that the disciples wished to send her away (verse 23). To dig it even deeper, Jesus' next two replies can reap even more confusion. He goes so far as to equate the Canaanite woman to a dog!! Jesus is basically saying that you are not worthy of my healing, and how much more demoralizing can it be to hear that from Him?

Of course, not is all as it seems. After the woman still persists, even after all that waiting and denial, her daughter is healed because of her great faith.

Not because she was worthy.

Not because she was Jewish and was God's people he was sent to save.

Because of her faith.

In that perspective, we see what Jesus was getting at with all this; he was testing her faith. He first kept silent, then rejected her, then rejected her again, and only after all that did the king of mercy answer her pleas. He knew how far she was willing to go to save her daughter. He knew he was going to heal that girl. He knew that this woman's immense faith would someday be a testament to all of us who wait for an answer from above.

I relate. I want answers from God, but I'm getting silence. I want direction, comfort, affirmation, instructions, healing, wisdom, passion, and I want them now. So often though, my cries are met with a similar response, but just as in this story, Jesus is just waiting.

I can't help but to try to imagine the agony in Jesus' heart as he waits. The pain it brings him to have to push this woman and us just a little bit further. He knows it's the best thing for us; to sharpen our faith and strengthen our resolve, but in His heart he is longing for the joyous moment of healing He has planned from the beginning.

Faith - firm belief in something for which there is no proof

When there seems to be little chance of aid, that is when our faith is strongest. In the moments of God's silence we can glorify Him the most.