#DailyDevotion Be A Pitbull In Prayer & Never Let Go Of Jesus
Matt. 15:25-28 25She came and bowed down before Him. “Lord, help me!” she said. 26“It isn’t good,” He answered, “to take the children’s bread and throw it to the puppies.” 27“You’re right, Lord,” she said, “but even the puppies eat some of the crumbs that drop from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, you have a strong faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” At that moment her daughter was made well.
The Canaanite woman now discovered drops her pretense about being a Jew. She now falls down before Jesus, desperate, she humbles herself. She simply cries out, “Lord, help me.” Jesus answers, “It isn’t good,” He answered, “to take the children’s bread and throw it to the puppies.” Well for all the niceness police out there at least Jesus responds to her. It’s a start. A relationship has at least begun for her. Although, the nice police will not like Jesus is calling her a dog and her child a puppy, which were unclean animals. But, according the Mosaic covenant she wasn’t clean. There was nothing in her life that would have her be clean according to the Torah.
The woman though accepts Jesus’ words and traps Jesus with his own words. A lot of commentators believe Jesus wants her to use his words to get what she wants. She, in faith, takes Jesus’ words and makes them her prayer, “You’re right, Lord, but even the puppies eat some of the crumbs that drop from their masters’ table.” I don’t know if you ever had a puppy when you had an infant or toddler at the table. It isn’t pretty. Food goes everywhere. The puppy and/or dog waits patiently for something to fall to the floor and when it does, it’s gone pretty quickly. Well this Canaanite woman accepts Jesus’ description of her and her daughter and ask from him what a puppy or dog can expect, crumbs from the table.
“O woman, you have a strong faith! Let it be done for you as you wish,” Jesus says to her. Like Jacob who would not let go of the LORD until he blessed him, this woman was like a pitbull in prayer to Jesus. She believed Jesus could and would heal her daughter. She was not going to let go until she got what she came for. We need to be like her in our prayers. We need to be like her in that we use God’s Word as the basis of our prayers, particularly his promises. Secondly, we need to be persistent. Be like her. Be like the widow with the judge. Be like Jacob. Be like the blind men. It’s true, we may not always get from the LORD what we think we want, the way, the amount, the timing or any other particular. But based on Jesus’ parable of the evil father who gives good gifts to his children, we can expect all the more from our Father in heaven who sent Jesus, his son, to die for us on the cross, only good things that we need when we pray to him.
Heavenly Father, grant us faith in Jesus like the Canaanite woman who trust in Jesus’ word so our prayers may be conformed to your will and receive a good answer from your merciful hand. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.