Friday, November 2, 2012 – True Humility

Friday, November 2, 2012 – True Humility

Have you ever asked God to perform a miracle in your life? If so, did
you give up after just asking him once? How persistent in prayer were
you? In today's reading, we see a Canaanite woman ask Jesus to perform
a miracle in her life – she asks Him, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy
on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
(Matthew 15:22) Jesus heard this woman cry out to Him, but he didn't
answer her right away. First lesson to take away – God hears your
prayers. Even if you've only asked Him for something once, He's heard
it. He may not answer right away, but believe, He knows every prayer
you've ever spoken. Sometimes (perhaps more often than not), God wants
to grow your persistence, faith, and humility before answering your
prayer.

Jesus hadn't answered this Canaanite woman right away, but after she
kept crying out to Him, He eventually answered, "I was sent only to
the lost sheep of Israel."(Matthew 15:24) Now I'm not sure if you
recall the history between the Canaanites and Israelites, but they
were huge enemies. Jesus was calling this woman to humble herself – to
acknowledge everything she followed beforehand was false – and to
admit that salvation came through the people that were her sworn
enemies, the Jews. I can relate to this woman very much. Before I
really followed after God, I had to admit that I had chosen to be an
enemy of Him. For a long time, I rejected Jesus as my King. I chose to
make everything else king in my life. I can distinctly remember my
junior and senior years of college, when a woman I was close with
asked me, "to consider Jesus was God." I told her, "Get Jesus out of
my face." I was an enemy of God. But once I saw the miracles that
Jesus performed in the lives of people, I couldn't deny the truth. I
had to accept Jesus as the truth.

Now I'm not saying that nonbelievers alone need to humble themselves
before God. Even in my short time knowing the truth (Jesus), I've not
followed the truth many times. Many people know God, but don't seek
Him; and everyone, has their moments when they turn away from Him.
Humbling ourselves before God is a day by day, moment by moment
process. So again, in testing and humbling this Canaanite woman, Jesus
said (after first not answering her), "I was sent only to the lost
sheep of Israel." The Canaanite woman then humbled herself before the
Lord, got on her knees, and cried out, "Lord, help me!" (Matthew
15:25) What a beautiful prayer! "Help me Jesus" is a great prayer. In
times of struggle, when we simply acknowledge God's strength and
ability above ours, it's a beautiful thing. Humility requires
dependence on God, not ourselves.

Yet even after crying out to Jesus for help, Jesus humbled the
Canaanite woman even more when he replied, "It is not right to take
the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." (Matthew 5:26) By
this, Jesus implied that he was sent to the Jews (children) first, and
Gentiles (dogs) second. This statement might seem harsh, but it was
well understood by the Canaanite woman who replied, "Yes, Lord, but
even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
(Matthew 5:27) Now if the Canaanite woman's response troubles you,
than you are suffering from what is known as "pride." I admit, when I
first read this, I was infected with pride as well. Perhaps your
thinking, "hasn't this woman already humbled herself and shown great
faith? I mean when God didn't answer her the first time, she didn't
stop pleading with him and even got on her knees and cried out, 'Lord,
help me!"

This story portrays what true humility is all about – when you can
acknowledge yourself as a "dog" before God, begging for the "crumbs"
from His table, and mean it with all your heart, then you've truly
humbled yourself before God. We have to constantly remember that,
"Apart from me [Jesus], you can do nothing." (John 15:5) We have to
remember, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and
this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so
that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) There is nothing that we can
do to earn what God has freely given us through faith. We have
salvation not because of anything we have done, but because of God's
grace – because God poured the righteous wrath that we deserved onto
His only begotten Son, Christ Jesus, so that we could have life. I
don't know about you, but for God's grace, I'm a "dog" any day of the
week. And please, I'll take a "crumb" of a "crumb," for here were
God's "crumbs" to the Canaanite woman – "Then Jesus said to her,
'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her
daughter was healed at that moment." (Matthew 15:28)

In the storms of this life, let's cry out to God for mercy. Let us not
give up, but be persistent in prayer, begging "Lord, help me!" When
humbled even more, let's truly recognize our unworthiness compared
with God's perfect standard of holiness. I encourage you to be "dogs"
today, pleading for the "crumbs" from our loving, forgiving, and
faithful Father's table. His "crumbs" will blow your mind.

God Bless,
Anthony