God Showed Me Important Lessons of Faith From The Story of The Canaanite Woman

In Matthew 15, we learn the story of a Canaanite woman (Gentile), who approached Jesus, pleading for Him to heal her demon-possessed daughter. But, upon hearing the woman, Jesus gave her no reply — not even a word. After her continued, persistent pleading, Jesus’ disciples became greatly annoyed and finally asked Jesus to send her away. 

Jesus then said to the woman: “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24). 

The Canaanite woman responded with nothing but worship and further pleading for His help.

Jesus then told her, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” (Matthew 15:26)

When I first read this, I was horribly confused. I didn’t understand why Jesus wouldn’t just heal her daughter. But in my heart, I knew He had a bigger reason for what He was doing. So I kept reading, praying for God’s wisdom to help me understand and to hopefully relate this story to my own life.

What I read next shook me to my very core.

The Canaanite woman then replied to Jesus:“That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.” (‭‭Matthew‬‭15‬:‭27‬)

“Wow”, I thought to myself, inspired by her humility and faith. In the world we live in now, humility like that is rare, almost nonexistent. We live in a society that kills rather than loves; that fights rather than tries to understand, that wears pride as a badge of honor, rather than dressing in the humility of God's Grace.

I had to pause to self-reflect.

Would I have responded in that same way? How would I have handled this PERCEIVED silence and PERCEIVED rejection from Jesus? What would I have done?

The old me would have played the victim by dwelling in insecurities and a lack of self-worth. I would have taken offense to Jesus’s PERCEIVED silence and PERCEIVED rejection, limiting myself to my own perceptions, without learning the true lessons that God had for me. I would have accepted my PERCEIVED defeat, and ran away in a faithless storm of self-pity. I would have listened to my emotions, rather than God.

But, that’s not what the Canaanite woman did. 

Instead, she set for us a great example of persistent faith and humility, all while teaching us a valuable lesson about our primary energy of approach.

As explained in Melchizedek's Pearls of Love: "This ‘humble’ is the opposite of arrogance. We call this your primary energy of approach. When you are searching for truth, and you sit at the “table” of the living Father, you are either on one side of that fence or the other. If you cannot be honest with yourself and proceed as the ‘humble,’ don’t waste your time. In order to receive God’s highest truth, your quest for truth must outweigh the scale of the denial of your own arrogance: your own self importance. In other words, if you are just looking to reaffirm what you already believe to be true, your primary energy of approach is with your ego, and you will never see the highest truth, guaranteed."

The Canaanite woman did not come to Jesus with her primary energy of approach being with her ego. In other words, she did not come to Jesus with entitlement or arrogance, thinking it was her right to have His help. She did not come to Jesus to be a victim.

She came to Him in faith.

She refused to give up, even when Jesus seemed to ignore her and when the disciples were bothered with her presence. She didn’t stress about what the disciples thought about her. She placed her belief in Jesus and in His power. With her faith, she believed He could perform any miracle, no matter who she was or where she came from. And what happened because of her great faith? She was blessed.

This story about the Canaanite woman is more than a story; It's a lesson, a God-wink, if you will, that we can apply to our daily lives. When we face challenges, when our emotions try to lead us sideways, when we feel like God isn't listening -- we can ground ourselves in this example of persistent faith and humility, inspiring us to make the necessary changes to grow stronger and closer to our Creator.

In this chaotic, evil world that we live in -- Lucifer's world (John 12:31) -- where pride drowns humility, where control drowns faith, where loving the things of this world drowns out love for the Father (1 John 2:15-17 MSG), we must turn our hearts to God. The time is now.

This story is the perfect reminder that God’s grace is available to EVERYONE that comes to Him with a sincere, humble, faithful heart, with honest intention.

As for the “new” me, after properly purifying my heart and growing closer to Jesus than I ever thought possible, I like to think that if I was in this situation now, I would respond with as much faith as this Canaanite woman. ‬

“Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24)

To learn more about purifying your heart and growing closer to Jesus, just as I and many others have, I highly recommend reading "Melchizedek's Pearls of Love". This book taught me how to crucify my ego and find Jesus within my heart. If you're looking for true change and to feel Jesus more than you ever thought possible, this book is for you. It is linked frequently through this blog, and I will link it here as well. It is a free book that will change your life.

If this post has inspired you, please like and share this post with those you think will benefit from it. :)

May God give you guidance, strength and peace,

Taylor