Quick Note – 2 Chronicles 31:20-21 – Serving with All Our Hearts

2 Chronicles 31:20-21 – 20 Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. 21 And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.

When we do something that we enjoy or desire to do, we usually pour our hearts into the project.  Examples of this could be when we are making a gift for a loved one, when we are organizing an event for a cause we are passionate about, or when we are doing a job that we love.  However, when we are forced to do something, we often only give half the effort; we don’t complete the task with all our hearts.  Because of this negative attitude, the work is usually not done to the best that it can be.  Instead, it gets half done or finished but not well.  We might think that this only occurs when working in this world, but the unfortunate thing is that this happens to Christians in the ministry as well.  When serving or seeking God, a lot of the time, we do it half-heartedly.  We do it because we have to, not because we want to.  And that attitude is reflected in our work.  Rather than acting in this manner, we should act as King Hezekiah did in our passage today. 

The last two verses of 2 Chronicles 31 summarize what King Hezekiah had been doing for the past three chapters – “he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God.”  King Ahaz, the previous king and Hezekiah’s father, led the nation to commit idolatry.  He closed the Temple doors, raised idols, and drove the people of Judah away from God.  However, when Hezekiah began his reign, he did the exact opposite.  He reopened and cleansed the Temple; he called the Israelites to repent and to observe the Passover; he appointed the Levites and priests to their work, and he even got the people to break down the high places, pillars, and Asherim, where idolatry was occurring.  Hezekiah flipped the situation of Judah from evil to good.  This was not an easy task.  But he found success because he did it with all his heart.  When he sought God, when he chose to obey His commands, and when he served Him, he did it with all his heart.  Unlike some kings that would offer sacrifices only to go through the motions of worship, Hezekiah truly wanted to build a right relationship with God.  So when he sought Him, he did it with all his heart.   

When we as disciples of Christ serve Him, we must do so with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths.  We are to love Him with all our being.  There should be nothing reserved, but everything given over to Him.  That means that when we pray, we do it with our full attention.  That means that when we read His Word, we are present and focused.  That means that when we serve Him, we do so in love and with the right attitude.  We can only build a closer relationship with God if we truly seek Him.  Let us give our everything to Him, Who gave His everything for us.  Everything that we do let us do it to bring honor and glory to God (Colossians 3:17).  That is the way to seek and serve God. 

Quick Note – 2 Chronicles 29-31 – Seeking God like Hezekiah

2 Chronicles 31:20-21 – ²⁰ Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. ²¹ And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.

Throughout the books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, we read about the lives of the various kings of Israel and Judah.  The unfortunate thing is that many of the kings were evil.  They chose to turn away from the Lord, to live in sin, and to lead the Israelites into idolatry.  These books are filled with the sad commentary of lives that refuse to repent and that suffer for their sin.  However, throughout these books, there are slivers of brightness – good kings that live for God and turn the people back to Him. 

One of these kings is Hezekiah.  Hezekiah was 25 years old when he began his reign, and it says in 2 Chronicles 29:3 that on the first year of his reign in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them.  If you read later in that chapter, you find out that it was even on the first day of that first month that the priests began to cleanse the temple.  So this chapter shows us that the first thing Hezekiah did when he became king was to repent and to turn the people of Israel toward the LORD.  Hezekiah’s father Ahaz had closed the doors of the Temple, preventing people from worshipping God during his reign, so the first thing Hezekiah did as king was to open those doors and to fix the sin that his father had done.  Hezekiah sought the LORD and that was the key to his successful reign. 

What I find interesting in these chapters (2 Chronicles 29-31) is the order in which Hezekiah sought the Lord.  You may ask me what that means, so let me explain.  In vs. 2 of Chapter 29, it states, “And he [Hezekiah] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.”  Before asking others to follow God, Hezekiah made the stalwart decision that he would personally follow the LORD.  Before you can ask others to turn to God, you must first seek Him yourself.  The personal relationship is more important than the ministry.  That is why Jesus Christ says in Matthew 7:3-5 – “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”  We must first make sure our hearts are right with God before we ask others to do the same. 

However, look what happens after we read about Hezekiah’s personal decision to follow the LORD.  In the following verses, it talks about how Hezekiah tells the priests and the Levites to get right with God (2 Chronicles 29:3-11).  He tells them to not be negligent, for the LORD chose them to minister and to make offerings to Him.  He then commands them to go and clean the Temple from all impurity and prepare it for the worship of God.  After getting his own heart right with God, Hezekiah encourages other followers of God to get their hearts right as well.  The people who were supposed to lead the Israelites spiritually were the priests and the Levites, so the next group of people that needed to get right with God were other fellow believers.  This should motivate us as Christians to encourage other fellow Christians to get right with God.  When we see they are faltering, when we see they are struggling, it is our job to encourage them to continue following the LORD.  It is by being untied as the body of Christ that we can be a beacon of influence in this world. 

The last thing I want us to observe is what happened after the Temple was restored.  Once the priests declared that the Temple was clean, Hezekiah and the other officials of Judah worshipped with praise and offerings to God.  What is interesting though is that after they made these offerings, Hezekiah and the other officials decided that they should celebrate the Passover, an annual feast to commemorate their deliverance as a people from Egypt.  This was a feast that God commanded the people to celebrate once a year; however, it had not been done since the time of Solomon (2 Chronicles 30:26).  Hezekiah decided it was time to do so, so he sent messengers throughout all Israel (not only Judah), even to the tribes that he did not reign over (because Israel had split into Judah and the other tribes), to encourage them to repent, to seek God, and to celebrate the Passover with him.  He encouraged others, who had turned away from the LORD, to turn back to Him as well.  Although many of the Israelites mocked the messengers, because they had already given themselves to idolatry, others did turn back to God and came to Judah to worship with Hezekiah.  This is a reminder for us Christians that our job is to share the Gospel with this world full of unbelievers.  After we get our hearts right with God, after we make sure our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are right with God, then we must do our best to encourage the world to get right with God.  We should not be ashamed or afraid to share the Gospel with them, but we should go out into the world, seeking to make disciples of all nations.  It doesn’t matter whether people refuse to follow, we must simply extend the invitation. 

2 Chronicles 31 closes by telling us that when Hezekiah did something for God, he did so with all his heart.  He put 100% effort in everything that He did for God, and by doing so he prospered in it.  Let us follow God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths, giving our full self to Him, whenever we serve Him.  And remember that whatever we do, we should do it to the honor and glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), so let us give our all to God in all that we do. 

Quick Note – 2 Chronicles 7:13-14

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 – When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locus to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humbles themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

There are many countries that are currently struggling economically and physically (in that they are suffering from natural disasters).  They are falling apart to the point of near destruction.  I am from the United States, and I see it as I look at the degradation of American society.  This country is relatively young, being only about 250 years old; however, I sometimes doubt that it can make it to its third century based on the condition of the country today. 

My country, just like most countries in the world today, is morally bankrupt.  It speaks of equality and justice.  It talks of fairness and respect for all.  It calls for liberty and freedom.  But it is trapped in a web of sin and destruction.  I wouldn’t be surprised if God struck this country down in anger.  And the unfortunate thing is that even though the church is supposed to be a shining beacon and example of the righteousness of God, it has followed in the footsteps of the world, conforming and becoming just like it. 

In 2 Chronicles 13:14, God told Solomon that if the people of Israel fell into sin, and He punished them with pestilence and famine, that if they wanted to find comfort and restoration, what they needed to do was humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways.  That was the solution to their problems – to turn to God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strengths.  It was the responsibility of those called by His name to turn to Him. 

If we as Christians want to see the world restored to the state that God wanted it to be before sin came, we must humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.  The church needs to repent.  The church needs to discard pride and self-righteousness.  The church needs to come into God’s presence with humility.  The church needs to pray.  The church needs to seek Him.  We must make Him the number one desire in our life.  We must turn from the ways of the world, the pleasures of sin, and the instant gratification of lust, and turn towards God – our righteousness and salvation.  If we want to see our country restored, if we want to see our world fixed, we must stop blaming unbelievers and turn to God ourselves.  He wants His people to pray.  He wants His people to repent.  He wants His people to seek Him.  That is not to say we shouldn’t seek the lost.  We should, but we must first get right with God ourselves.   

Quick Note – 2 Chronicles 31:20-21 – With All Your Heart

2 Chronicles 31:20-21 – Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the LROD his God.  And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered. 

When I was in high school and college, I was often given assignments that I really did not want to do.  However, because I wanted to maintain my high marks, I put in the effort that I felt was necessary to complete the projects satisfactorily and get the A grade.  But I would see some of my classmates put in half the work, and yet still receive a grade that was somewhat close to mine.  It made me think, “Why bother putting in the effort, if we would get similar grades?”  So when it came time to take a class in college on a subject that I had previous experience in – Microbiology – I put in less effort.  I studied less hard for the midterms and finals, thinking to myself that I could coast by and still get the A I was looking for.  Unfortunately, when the final grades came in, I received a B+.  This letter grade tarnished my perfect record of A’s.  Because I chose not to put all my heart into my work, I did not obtain the result I was looking for. 

Sometimes, we as Christians also put in only half the effort when we are working in God’s ministry.  We might not like the task that God has given us to complete, so we work half-heartedly.  We make sure the job gets done, but we don’t do it to the best of our abilities.  Instead, we coast along as if it didn’t matter. 

Our passage today focuses on King Hezekiah, one of the good kings of Judah, who served God with all his heart.  He brought the people back to seek the LORD after years of idolatry under the previous king.  He destroyed the high places where false gods were worshipped; he restored the Temple and the Passover; and he reinstated the jobs and tithes that were given to the priests and Levites.  Whatever work was done for the house of God and according to God’s laws, he did it with all his heart.  He put all his effort into seeking God and doing His will.  It was because of this attitude that he succeeded. 

This is the same attitude that we should have when doing God’s work.  We must wholeheartedly serve God.  Whether the task seems menial, like cleaning the church floors or putting away the seats after Sunday worship, we must put our whole heart into the work.  Colossians 3:23 states, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…”  This verse is a strong reminder that when we work, we work for God, and when we work for God, we must do it for His glory.  And this attitude adjustment shouldn’t be reserved for only working in the ministry, it should be applied in our devotional times, our prayer times, and our worship times.  When we seek God, we must seek Him with our whole hearts.  Whether we are reading the Word of God, praying, or serving others, we must do it completely.  No matter what we do, if it is in seeking after God or doing His work, let us do it with all our hearts.  It is only then we can succeed in the work. 

Sermon – Three H’s in the Syrophoenician Woman’s Plea for Help

Today, I would like to share with you one of my favorite stories from the Bible.  It is one of my favorites, because it is one of the few times, something seems to catch our Lord by surprise.  Of course, we know that God could never be tricked or shocked, because He is all-knowing; but there are a few stories in the Bible, where the verses make it sound like God was pleasantly surprised.  The story that I would like us to turn to today is the story of the Syrophonecian/Canaanite woman and her demon-possessed daughter.  This story is recounted in two of the Gospels – Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30.  The stories are almost exactly alike, but each one gives a little insight to the story that the other one does not have.  By reading and examining them both, we get a better picture of what happened and how we can learn from that one Gentile woman and her plea for help.  To really get what is happening, we need to first read both passages, so take a minute and look at them with me:

Matthew 15:21-28 – “21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.”

Mark 7:24-30 – “24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.”

Let’s summarize both iterations of the story into one here.  First, Jesus Christ went away from the region He was currently in and went to Tyre and Sidon.  Tyre and Sidon are currently cities in Lebanon, but they had their histories steeped in Phoenician culture from which we get our current English alphabet.  These two cities are mentioned quite often in the Bible for various reasons, but they were best known for their merchant culture and maritime prowess in ancient history.¹  By the time of Christ, they were still likely commercial powerhouses but not as powerful as before.²  Nonetheless, they were Gentile areas.  In this area, Christ went likely to rest since it says in Mark 7:24, “…And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know…”  But as always, people flocked to see Jesus.  One of these people was the Syrophoenician woman we will learn from today.  She came seeking Christ to heal her daughter of demon possession.  When she called out to Him, at first, Christ did not respond.  Then, she went to the disciples, who after getting annoyed by her persistence, called Christ to take care of the “problem.”  Christ then told her that it was not fit that He should serve her before the children of Israel, to whom He was called to serve.  Interestingly, the woman continued her begging and said, “Lord, help me.”  Christ then further elaborated on His first statement by saying, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  By this point, you would have expected that the woman would have gotten the message and left, but she did not; instead she said something quite profound, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”  Hearing this statement of faith, Christ then healed her daughter and let her go her way.  In this story, we can see that the woman desperately needed help from Christ that she could get nowhere else.  This need was manifested in her begging and pleading the Lord to heal her daughter.  In her plea for help, we can see three admirable qualities that we should apply to our lives and our prayer.  These characteristics are easy to remember because they all start with the letter “H” just like the word Help – 1)  Hunger, 2)  Humility, and 3)  Hope.

Hunger

The first characteristic that we need to notice in the woman’s plea is her HUNGER.  She longed for her daughter to be healed, longed for it so much that she would not let anything stop her, which can be easily attested to by her perseverance.  Just look at how hard she worked just to find Jesus Christ.  She likely knew nothing about this Man outside of the little tidbits she heard about Him from others across the border; yet when she knew that Christ was in the area she did not stop when He was not publicly out.  She went out seeking Him, seeking the place where He stayed, even though, He was “in hiding.”  She sought for the Lord God, and He was found.  Have you ever been in a situation where you are looking for something or someone?  With the technology we have today, we can likely find it at our fingertips, and no longer do we need to work very hard to find someone.  But in the past, people had to put in a lot of detective work just to learn a smidgen of information about someone.  I know that this might sound weird, but I have actually developed a skill in finding people using Google and Facebook.  With just a few facts, I can find a person, but usually, I have to work pretty hard and test many search terms just to get a little headway.  I need to want that information so much that I will keep trying.  One of my favorite comic book characters illustrates this hunger well.  Surely, we all know who Robin is.  Robin is the sidekick of Batman.  To tell you the truth, there were actually a number of Robins, since Batman had some grow up, some die, and some just move on.  The third Robin, Tim Drake, unlike all the other Robins, actually surprised Batman by finding out his identity.  He did so by doing everything in his power to understand and research who Batman really was.  He hungered for the opportunity to work as Batman’s sidekick and did not even let a hurdle like a secret identity to stop him.  He did all the leg work needed to find a man “in hiding.”  This Syrophoenician woman knew that she needed help and hungered for the One who could provide it, searching with all her heart.  We can learn from this woman, for often, when we ask Christ for something, there is no heart of hunger.  We don’t really want to know more about Him.  We don’t really want to seek His will.  We don’t really want His purpose in our lives.  We just say we do but put no effort in seeking and asking Him for it.  Christ says that those who seek Him, find, and those who ask Him, receive; but it requires a desire for what we seek and ask for.  Of course, we must make sure that our desires are in line with the Lord, for those who delight themselves in the Lord will receive the desires of their heart, not because they will get all the lusts of the world but because their one and only desire becomes Jesus Christ and His glory (Psalm 37:4).  Like it says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  If you don’t hunger for Christ, how can you put all the effort needed to find Him?

Her perseverance was not only illustrated in her seeking the Lord, but also in constant begging for His mercy.  When Christ did not respond to her first plea, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon,” she pestered the disciples for help.  She pestered them so much that they wanted her to go away.  Then when Christ told her that He was called to serve the children of Israel, she still asked for help.  And even after being told that it was not meet for her to receive that gift, she still begged Him for it.  She continued to ask and ask and ask.  Now, Christ warns us in Matthew 6:7-8, not to pray in the way the Gentiles do thinking that they will be heard for their many words, but He never condemns the attitude of perseverance in prayer; He condemns faith in words instead of God.  Just look at the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8 – “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, “Give me justice against my adversary.” 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.”’ 6 And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’”  He encouraged people to continue praying, but the thing is so many Christians when they don’t hear from God right away stop praying.  They won’t persevere.  They won’t continue. They get discouraged.  We must continue in prayer with the Lord, for He will answer in His time.

Hunger drives a person to push past his normal limits to achieve something.  He will climb the highest peaks, swim the deepest depths, and push through the hardest walls, if that will help satiate that hunger.  Take a lesson from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, where Captain Barbossa did anything to satiate the curse of endless hunger.  Take a lesson from basketball players, who push towards championships because they are “hungry” for it.  Take a lesson from the Syrophoenician woman, who hungered for her daughter to get better, persevering through whatever obstacles were there.  As Christians, we must hunger for Christ and what He wants to do in our lives.  We must seek it and continue seeking it until it is revealed to us.  This does not mean that we keep asking when He says, “No!”  But to keep coming to Him when all seems silent.

Humility

The next characteristic we must take note of in her plea for help is HUMILITY.  The Syrophoenician woman displayed great humility.  Before diving into this any farther, let’s take a moment and perform a thought experiment.  If you were insulted by a person, you were asking help from what would you do?  Would you continue to ask for help?  Or would you completely stop, keep what is left of your pride, and leave?  Most of us, if we were being truthful with ourselves, would likely stand up and leave.  We wouldn’t take the insult sitting down but would rather keep our dignity intact.  But look at this woman after Christ said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” basically referring to her as a dog in that statement.  She simply confirmed the words with the answer, “Yes Lord…”  And it doesn’t sound like a “Yes, Lord” that is just said to keep the peace; but one that truly saw this Christ in an elevated position and respected Him.  In those two words, she did two things that indicated her attitude of humility.  She first exalted Christ, for she respected what He said and confirmed them with a simple “Yes, Lord.”  She didn’t accuse Him of bigotry, sexism, or racism; she simply recognized that He was above her and had every right to say what He did.  Usually, when you respect a person’s position, you will value their words, and she did just that.  Second, she lowered her position by accepting the term dogs.  The one place of clear contention for many politically correct lawyers is the term dogs as a reference to Gentiles, yet she didn’t act defensively.  She simply accepted her position in the eyes of the Lord and humbled herself before Him.  She did not try to dictate to Him how she should be treated; she simply left herself in the hands of God.  If she was going to get help from Him, she knew that she needed to humble herself before Him and recognize her need for Him.

Have you ever tried to help someone who asks for your help but is too busy trying to tell you his opinion instead of listening to your advice?  I have trouble like this when I try to help people with academic problems like math.  Instead of listening to me explain how to solve the problem, they just keep trying to tell me how they did it and how it should be right.  But I can’t help them if they aren’t listening.  What I have to do is stop them from talking, demand their attention, and then explain the solution to the problem.  After they stop to listen, they usually get it in my first explanation.  If they really wanted to obtain the help from me, they needed to humble themselves and listen.  It takes humility for them to ask and then receive that help.

As Christians we must recognize that we must come to God with humility.  The God we serve is no ordinary God.  He is the Creator and Lord of the universe, the King of kings, and the Almighty.  He deserves our whole respect and praise.  Yet very often, we will not come before Him humbly but with a plan in mind for Him to follow.  We treat Him like a genie or a servant who should grant our every wish.  We must humble ourselves before Him and recognize that what we are receiving from Him is grace and mercy.  God need not hear us.  God need not answer us.  God need not do anything we ask Him to do.  He does what He does for us because He loves us.  First, we need to recognize our need for Him and to come before Him in prayer.  Second, we must be humble enough to accept His will on that request (i.e., If we are asking for guidance, we must be humble enough to take whatever path He guides us to).  Each and every one of the pleas we bring before Him should be done with humility, fully trusting Him and recognizing His Lordship over your life.  The Syrophoenician woman did not tell Christ, “You must give me bread.”  No!  She humbly accepted His decision to not be given bread and asked for something else “the crumbs,” which is the highlight word of our next point.

Hope

The last characteristic we should take notice of in her plea is HOPE.  Hope according to Google is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen” with the archaic meaning of “a feeling of trust.”  Today, we only use the word hope to mean a desire for something to happen, as in, “I hope I win the lotto today” or “I hope I get to the party on time even though traffic is awful.”  We may have little to no faith in that thing happening, but we “hope” for it.  But hope should really indicate a trust that something will happen, that archaic meaning.  It should go hand in hand with faith.  For hope without faith is wishful thinking.  The Syrophoenician woman was not just a wishful thinker but a person who had great hope.  You must first notice who she placed her hope in – Jesus Christ.  She did not place her faith and hope in man, although one may argue she did when she pestered the disciples; she placed her faith in Christ, trusting that He was the solution to her problem.  We can all attest to times when we have wrongly placed our hope on someone or something.  This happens a lot in politics where people place their faith in politicians who are lying through their teeth about promises that they will never keep.  They trust these men and women to give them a bunch of things, but instead the politicians end up lining their pockets and supporting only those who will back their campaign further.  Their hope is misplaced.  We must take care who we place our hope in, for misplaced hope is just as bad as hope without faith, it is unfounded trust.  Psalm 118:9 tells us, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.”  Instead of placing faith in man or in yourself, place your faith in God.  He promises to never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5) and to work all together for good to those that love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  He is not some politician whose feelings shift with the wind.  No!  He never changes and is always faithful.  Like the woman, we must place our faith in Him.

Second, take notice of how deep her faith and hope were in Christ.  It was no shallow faith that only believed that Christ could do the common; it was a faith that declared, “Lord, even if I were to receive but crumbs from you, it would be enough to heal my daughter.”  That word crumbs reveals so much about her faith.  For she knew that if she received even just a little of Christ’s mercy, grace, and power that would be enough to work this miracle for her daughter.  Christ’s power was not a cheap piece of currency, but one that was worth so much that even a penny of it was worth more than all the world could buy.  If it helps to put it this way, its exchange rate was good.  Christ told His disciples that if they had faith as big as a mustard seed, they could move mountains (Matthew 17:20), and this woman definitely had bigger faith.  This woman’s faith was to be admired, for she did not question Christ’s power; she actually trusted it more than many other Israelites.  Just contrast her to the Jewish man, whose son was demon possessed in Mark 9:14-29.  When Christ asked him if he believed, he said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”  That man still had doubts but this woman had no doubts in her mind about what Christ could do.  It was not that this man did not receive Christ’s mercy for his lack of faith, for his son was still healed; but this woman was commended for her faith.

Much of the time, people place their faith in God hesitantly.  They will ask Him to do something but have a backup plan in mind, just in case, He doesn’t follow through.  They worry and fear and act like He won’t provide for them yet claim that they trust Him fully.  This was not the attitude of George Muller, a famous Christian who started an orphanage in England.  Although this orphanage needed funds to continue to serve the children, he never once asked anyone directly for money; instead, he placed his complete faith in Christ knowing that God would provide for them in His time.³  Even when the cupboards were completely empty one day as the boys gathered to the table to eat, he led them in a prayer thanking God for His provisions.  God then blessed them with bread and milk.  It is amazing what God does when a person trusts in Him fully.

When we come to God in prayer, we must come to Him, trusting Him to do what is best for us.  We must trust in His power, His mercy, and His grace.  We must trust Him fully.  Now, we need not have faith as deep as this woman’s, which could make a declaration like that, but we should earnestly seek to have that type of faith.  She received healing for her daughter, when she was not yet a child of God, how can we not receive something greater being His children?  We must place our faith and hope in Christ.  For our God’s crumbs are worth much more than our world’s gold.

Conclusion

What we can definitely see and learn from this story today is simple – we must be hungry for Christ, we must be humble before Him, and we must trust in Him.  This is true no matter what our plea may be.  It could be a plea for salvation from a person who is not yet a child of God.  He must still be hungry for Christ and salvation from sin; he must still be humble, admitting he is a sinner; he must still trustfully hope in Christ for salvation.  It could be a plea for God’s will from one without direction.  He must still be hungry for God’s work in Him; he must still be humble in submission to His will; he must still hopefully trust in Him to guide Him.  It could be a plea for more wisdom and understanding from one who is not yet mature in the faith.  He must still be hungry for God’s Word; he must still be humble to obey God’s Word; he must still hopefully trust that Christ will reveal Himself to him.  No matter what the plea, this Syrophoenician woman’s attitude in prayer should be followed.  Let us be hungry for Christ; Let us be humble before Christ; let us place our hope in Christ.

1.  http://www.welcometohosanna.com/LIFE_OF_JESUS/030_Ministry10TyreSidon.htm

2.  Holman Bible Dictionary.  http://www.studylight.org/dic/hbd/view.cgi?number=T5886

3.  Piper, John.  “George Mueller’s Strategy for Showing God” http://www.desiringgod.org/biographies/george-muellers-strategy-for-showing-god