JESUS TRIED HER FAITH - MAY 23
Matthew 15:27, "But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it unto the dogs."
MATTHEW 15:21-39; MARK 7:24-37; 8:1-10
It is very clear in scripture that Jesus was sent to fulfill God's covenant to the Jews. However, it was equally clear that Jesus would open up faith unto the Gentiles. Jesus certainly knew this, and had already ministered to numerous Gentiles without the apparent disdain that we see here with the Syro-Phoenician woman. Jesus could not have been forced into ministering to this woman's daughter if it was not His will to do so. Therefore, His silence and rough answer to this woman must have been designed to accomplish a positive result.
Humility is an important ingredient of faith. This woman was a stranger to the covenants of promise and had no right to demand anything. Jesus' silence and then comparison of her to a dog would certainly have offended an arrogant person, and it is possible that for this very reason, Jesus tried her faith. Jesus didn't need to do this with the centurion in Luke 7:6-7 because the centurion had already humbled himself.
An integral part of faith is seeking God alone with your whole heart. If we are concerned about what people think and gaining their approval (or honor), we will never take a stand in faith for anything. After all we might be criticized for it. This one thing has probably stopped as many people from receiving from God as anything else. You cannot be a "man-pleaser" and please God at the same time. Satan uses persecutions to steal away God's Word and, thereby, stop our faith. To see faith work, we must say with Paul, "let God be true, but every man a liar" (Rom. 3:4).
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