Day 29 - Enjoy the Silence

Matthew 15:22-28 -----

^21-22From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, "Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit."

²³Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, "Now she's bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She's driving us crazy."

²⁴Jesus refused, telling them, "I've got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel."

²⁵Then the woman came back to Jesus, went to her knees, and begged. "Master, help me."

²⁶He said, "It's not right to take bread out of children's mouths and throw it to dogs."

²⁷She was quick: "You're right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master's table."

²⁸Jesus gave in. "Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!" Right then her daughter became well.

Bonjourno! So read this passage, anything stand out? Haha, how about the line, "Jesus ignored her." I read that and was like, "WHAAA? Jesus did what?" Then I thought about it, sometimes I am in situations like that. Jesus isn't being rude, i think he is teaching us through the silence.

Have you ever been there? Have you ever experienced the depth of silence? Has there ever been a time in your life where you brought something to God, in prayer, and you felt like there was no reply, there was simply nothing, just silence?

Think about such a time. As you recall it, how are you feeling? Angry? Sad? Insignificant? Forgotten? Do you feel sorry for yourself? What is your sense of God in that place of silence?

Journal.....

How does God's silence affect your prayerful requests to him? Do you just turn your back and choose not to ask again? Do you feel rejected, unheard, unwanted, unloved, betrayed? Maybe you feel like it's better to walk away from the whole thing. After all, surrender doesn't hurt as much as outright rejection. Before you answer, look at what the woman in the story did. She didn't walk away, she didn't surrender to despair and cynicism. Instead she kept crying out after Jesus and his disciples.

Go back and read verse 24. You see, Jesus did answer the woman, and His first words may have been more painful and harsh then the silence itself. He didn't heal her daughter immediately as she hoped He would. It must have felt to her as though his answer ignored her questions, not to mention the pain she felt. What I love, is that the woman was persistent... and not because of who she was, but because of who He was. She dropped to her knees, in faith, and said, "Help me!"

Then Jesus spoke again, this time, after the silence, it was with volume echoing all the way back to the sickbed of a little girl in a distant village... "²⁸Jesus gave in. "Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!" Right then her daughter became well."

We might not always understand those times when it feels as though God is silent, but consider this possibility: In those moments when there is no word, perhaps God is reminding us that, even more than He wants to meet our needs, He wants to understand our own need to meet Him, to fall before Him, and to trust Him.

Don't hide from the silence of God. Sit with it, ponder it, challenge it, and question it. Soon enough the silence will turn into an answer. Whatever you do, don't give up and mistake the silence for lack of compassion or lack of hearing.

Journal what you're thinking.

-Colton