Prayers are our cries to God. Sometimes those prayers are cries of want and sometimes those prayers are cries of need. You can rest assured that God knows how to distinguish those prayers. When we are young Christians, even as older Christians, it seems that God, sometimes, answers prayers fairly quickly. Then there are times, especially perhaps as we mature, that God uses unanswered prayers as a means to teach us to deepen our faith and trust in Him. He knows our real needs and He is always faithful.
We have an event in Mark 7 in which Jesus, at first, refuses to answer a woman’s prayer. But she persists, in humility, and Jesus rewards that persistence with blessings that were not intended for her. Of the 35 specific miracles which Jesus did in His lifetime, only 4 involve women. This is one.
THE SYROPHOENICIAN WOMAN’S DAUGHTER – 7:24-26:
This particular woman had a daughter who was afflicted by an “unclean spirit.” So, the mom heard about Jesus and comes to Him, alone, and she “fell at His feet.” What utter and abject humility!
No one has power over demons except God and God’s spokesmen. This woman heard about Jesus and heard about Jesus’ power to cast out demons. So, she comes to Him with that very simple request: “Please cast this demon out of my daughter.”
But we observe, in the NASV, that it is written of this woman, “she kept asking” Jesus. Do you see that this request was not a one time request? This was a consistent, persistent prayer to Jesus, a request to Jesus which He obviously was not answering as the woman desired!
JESUS’ (INITIAL) REFUSAL – 7:27:
The verb “was saying” (NASV) here is in the same tense of verb that, again, shows Jesus made this statement more than once. More than once He made this statement to His apostles and to this woman.
To summarize this whole verse, we suggest Jesus is telling this grieving woman, “It is not yet time to share the Messianic blessings with the non-Jewish community.”
THE POWER OF FAITH REWARDED – 7:28-30:
The woman now gives a once-and-for-all response to Jesus’ persistent “no” to her prayer: “Even the puppies under the table feed from the crumbs that fall from the children’s mouths.”
The woman concedes that the children ought to be fed first. But, what about just letting her daughter have some crumbs? Maybe the woman is suggesting that just the smallest amount of power from Jesus would be needed to heal her daughter.
The woman was patient. But she was also persistent. Because of her faith, Jesus shares some Messianic blessings with her that were intended to be used first and primarily for the Jewish nation…
“Because of this answer, go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” With the event behind us, think about what this woman’s faith overcame in order for her to receive this blessing from Jesus:
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1. She overcame negative views of her nationality.
2. She overcame negative views of her gender.
3. She overcame Satan.
4. She overcame the disciples of Jesus (according to Matthew’s account the disciples wanted Jesus to send her away).
LESSONS FOR TODAY:
1.) When / if you have problems, go to Jesus for His solution.
2.) Be persistent in your prayers until God gives a definite answer. Hang on to the slightest fragment of hope you have and show God how strong your conviction is!
3.) Be humble when you go to God. Fall at His feet. Remember that God does not owe us anything but what He gives is from His grace.
4.) God’s answer will always be in your best interest. You must trust that point.
5.) The Gospel is for all.
6.) Jesus has the power to heal illnesses and, one day, He’ll give us bodies that will not get sick or die.
Let us each follow Jesus with the same persistent, simple faith of this woman.
Paul Holland
