Have you ever had a desperate faith? This is a faith where there is a need, and you are convinced from the depths of your soul that God can take care of it, but He does not seem to be moving the way you want Him to. You determine you will not quit praying and begging God until your request is answered. It may be a feeling of desperation for a lost loved one, one who is so far removed from knowing God that your heart aches. It may be a physical need or a financial need, whatever the need, the consequences of your prayer not being answered in a positive way cause fear and anxiety to well up within you. This need causes you to pray with an intensity you have never felt before. You can’t sleep, you can’t eat, you are consumed with desperation for God to answer your prayer. Your faith is strong because you know God can answer, but He is silent.
In Mark 7:24-30, we read of a woman who approached Jesus with a desperate plea for her daughter. In Mark 7:24-25 we read, “And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet .” Jesus had gone to this house to find some rest and avoid the Pharisees and possibly Herod. Now, the woman who was desperate enters. Her daughter needed to be freed of an unclean spirit. She obviously had heard of Jesus because she fell at His feet to make her request. This woman would have been a cultural outsider in every possible way. She was a Greek woman born in Syrian Phoenicia.
What she did was totally unacceptable for this environment. First, we see nowhere that she was an invited guest. Second, she was a gentile approaching a Jew. Thirdly, she was a woman kneeling at a man’s feet. All of this would have been totally inappropriate for this culture.
What happens next is a twist no one would have expected. She falls at His feet, asking Jesus to cast a demon out of her daughter, and Jesus says in verse 27, “Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.” This was a jarring, culturally intense encounter, and Jesus’ initial response sounds extremely harsh to our modern culture.
In that historical context, “the children” referred to the house of Israel, to whom the Messiah was first sent, and “the dogs” was a common, derogatory Jewish term for Gentiles. Jesus wasn’t being malicious; He was laying out the divine timeline of His mission and testing the nature of her heart.
Look at how she responds. She doesn’t take offense. She doesn’t get defensive, storm off, or launch into a speech about her rights. Her daughter’s suffering has stripped away every ounce of her pride.
Instead, she responds to Jesus’ own metaphor with a brilliant, desperate reply in verse 28, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” She essentially says, “Yes, Lord. I agree with my status. I have no covenant claim to Your blessings. But I know who You are. You are wealthy in mercy, so overflowing with power, that a mere crumb falling from Your table is more than enough to heal my daughter.”
Jesus is utterly moved by her response. He commends her faith, and her daughter is instantly delivered. This woman understood something the religious elite of the day completely missed: none of us qualify for God’s grace based on our own merit. How do we approach God, with a spirit of entitlement, feeling like He “owes” us an answer because we’ve been good, religious, or faithful?
From this woman, we can learn to boldly keep asking God for salvation for others and for our own needs. If we accept His will, He will answer. She also teaches us radical humility, which is unlike our modern-day Christians. She was willing to abandon her pride completely to get close to Jesus.
When was the last time you felt desperate for God to move on your behalf? When was the last time you were persistent in prayer, so much so that you would not stop until an answer came? If you are facing a situation today that feels hopeless, or if it feels like God is silent, do not give up. Approach His throne not on the basis of what you deserve, but on the basis of how good He is. Even a “crumb” of His presence can shatter the heaviest chains in your life. We must understand that we have no claim on God’s goodness. He does not pour it out on us because we deserve it. He pours it out because He loves us and He is a merciful, loving Father. We need to bring our greatest fears and deepest anxieties with a humble heart to the feet of Jesus.
