An Unoffendable Faith

“Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Mark 7:28-30 (NIV)

In the region of Tyre and Sidon, a woman made a request of Jesus that He heal her daughter of demon possession. This woman was not a Jew, but was in fact a Greek—a Syrophoenician by birth. His response to her request seems harsh. “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” In other words, “Jews first, Gentiles later.”

What seemed to be an insulting shut-down by Jesus was actually a test of her faith—and it was a test that she passed. She answered, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Jesus was impressed by her unoffendable faith, and He granted her request by immediately setting her daughter free from the demon.

This text is really an invitation to us all to expect from Jesus times when our faith will be tested. There will be times when Jesus will pull on and stretch our faith so that it grows and deepens and becomes stronger.

Life will offend you. Life will dismiss you. Life will disregard you. And if your faith is present but is too temperamental and easily offended to roll with the punches, then it won’t produce healing in the possessed areas of your life. It will not stimulate growth that goes deeper rather than wider.

When your faith is feeble and offendable, you will shout when you succeed, but then be unable to utter the name of Jesus when failure grips your life. You will praise the Lord for great days but then barely talk to Him on bad days. That’s not the kind of faith Jesus wants to see in you.  

So the Lord will use life to test you. He is not just looking for the evidence of faith, but He wants to test its capacity and its enduring capabilities. God will test your faith even to the degree that, like the Syrophoenician woman, you can live confused about God’s action without ever doubting God’s character.

This woman was rewarded for staying centered while being stretched. And you will be too if you can pass the test by holding onto your faith in those times when it doesn’t make sense.

An unoffendable faith is what the Lord is trying to develop in us.