David Diga Hernandez - Breakthrough Faith

So I want you to go to Matthew chapter 15, and we’re going to begin reading at verse 21, where the scripture says, «Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon.» A Gentile woman who lived there came to him pleading, «Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David, for my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.» But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. «Tell her to go away,» they said. «She is bothering us with all her begging.» Then Jesus said to the woman, «I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep, the people of Israel.» But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, «Lord, help me.» Jesus responded, «It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.» She replied, «That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their master’s table.» «Dear woman,» Jesus said to her, «your faith is great; your request is granted.» And her daughter was instantly healed.

So here we see a woman who finds herself in a difficult situation that only Jesus can resolve. Her daughter was possessed by the demonic powers of hell, and this was a serious situation. This woman, with a heart full of faith, approached Jesus on behalf of her daughter and began to plead with the Lord. She asked him to move on her behalf to exercise his authority over the powers of darkness and drive out that demonic spirit. Now, Jesus at first did not reply to her, and the disciples were getting irritated with her. I don’t know about you, but if I find myself in an intimidating situation, sometimes I’m tempted to back away from what I’m looking for, and people often try for something in the moment. When they run into a little bit of resistance, they push back and pull away, going away discouraged. But this woman, even though Jesus was ignoring her—the Bible tells us he could have tried to soften this a little bit by perhaps explaining it a different way—he ignored her and called her a dog. That’s what the Bible says.

So this woman found herself in a very difficult place. Jesus was ignoring her, and the disciples were getting agitated. She felt like she was in a place of discomfort. I’m sure she felt she had to walk very carefully around them. There was a tension in the air. But this woman, despite that tension, and despite the fact that she might have been embarrassing herself, persisted in seeking after the Lord and continued to worship him. She continued to seek Him. Jesus finally replied to her and told her that he was there on assignment for the children of Israel. But this woman, with a heart filled with faith, persisted and told the Lord in response to what he had said about not giving the food to the dogs, «But Lord, even the dogs get to eat the scraps that fall off the master’s table.»

Jesus recognized the woman’s persistence, and what he said about her persistence was this: «Your faith is great.» You see, God equates persistence with faith when that persistence is born of the Spirit. When that persistence is holding on to a promise that he has spoken, when that persistence is grabbing hold of a truth that is divine in nature, that persistence is what brings about the miracle. Not because the persistence itself has any power necessarily, but because God responds to persistence, seeing it as faith. So it is not my effort; it is not my pleading; it is not my begging; it is not my consistent asking that has any real power. It is the fact that God honors persistence, and he enacts his power on behalf of those who are persistent.

So this woman continued to press in; she continued to pursue what she wanted because all she was thinking about was, «My daughter needs to be set free. My daughter needs to be delivered. My daughter needs to live without this torment in her mind.» This mother continued to press in. Can you imagine her situation? I mean, truly appreciate the situation here. She’s talking to Jesus, and he’s ignoring her—that’s what the Bible says. You might say, «That doesn’t sound like Jesus. It’s not something he would do.» Look, I don’t understand why the Lord did it. Perhaps he knew that this woman would respond in faith, and he was doing this for her. In fact, I am more inclined to believe that than anything else. Why? Because when God seemingly remains silent or seems to ignore you, he does so for you to pursue him. When God seems to pull away—when I say seems, I say this because he’s not really ignoring you; he’s testing you. When God seemingly withdraws, he’s not leaving you; he’s leading you. He’s drawing you into a place of faith; he’s drawing you into a place of persistence.

Perhaps you find yourself right now in a situation, and you are trying to get a breakthrough. You’re saying, «Lord, I don’t know how much longer I can handle this. Lord, I don’t know how much longer I can take this. Lord, I feel like giving up. Lord, I feel like quitting.» There’s an old song that my dad used to play in the car when we were on our way to church, and the singer sang lyrics that are very powerful. They still stick with me to this day. The singer said, «My eyes are dry, my faith is old, my heart is hard, my prayers are cold, and I know how I ought to be.»