The parent/child connection can be extremely powerful. The feeling that whatever is happening to your child is also happening to you can be overwhelming. I ache when my children ache, not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.
In today’s passage, the mother begs Jesus to heal her daughter who is “demon-possessed and suffering terribly” which in turn causes the mother to suffer terribly. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to help her daughter and also, she feels like her daughter’s possession is a reflection on her as a parent, but that’s a whole other topic for another day.
To be honest, when I read this passage the first time (and also the second and third) I wasn’t quite sure what the take-away was. It talks about how it’s “not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs” and about how dogs “eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Why would Jesus not answer the cries of this desperate woman?? And was he calling her a dog?? It just didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Although I’ve grown up with the Bible, I by no means consider myself an expert and require multiple sources for guidance. One of the main reasons I enjoy writing these weekly devotions is because it makes me dig a little deeper into the Word and into my heart. What is God trying to tell me with this?
The message I'm hearing today is that, as a parent, I love my children more than anything in the world and would do anything for them. If I feel this way, then how much more does God love me as His child? Are we going to have tough times, yes! Are we going to cry out for help, yes! Are we always going to get the answer we’re looking for, no! But if we persist in faith, our requests won’t be ignored. God won’t send us away.
God hears our cries and like the loving Father he is, He will answer (in his way and time) and drive out our “demons.” Thank you, Father, for loving us fiercely and never giving up on us.
