Dear Christian friends:

Jesus said to the mother in our text: "You have a wonderful faith." I'm sure we all want a stronger faith. Often we seem to have little or no faith and are not really happy. So, lets attend to our text and study the woman's wonderful faith. It should help our faith grow stronger.


The womans faith grew stronger in deep trouble.

An evil spirit ruled her daughter. If you have seen the movie "The Exorcist" or if you have read the book, you will understand how terrible and how helpless this mother felt. No doctor, no priest no one in the past had been able to free her daughter of such terrible behavior. You mothers know how you feel when your son or daughter is seriously ill.

If you meet a person with a wonderful faith, and if you talk with that person for a while, you will learn that he in the past had much trouble or suffering and grief. (Tell of Dr. Salvner) Trouble is God's school for helping our faith to grow stronger.

So, we should not be afraid when troubles happen to us. God often lets troubles happen to test and strengthen our faith. Peter writes, "Brothers, don't think it strange if you must endure great troubles. Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." As a good father punishes and corrects his straying son, so God corrects us. By this He wants to help us improve in faith and love and trust.

The woman trusted in God's mercy.

(Retell that part of the story where she admitted that she was a "dog", yet pleaded for the "crumbs". Explain!)

A wonderful faith is like the mother's. It accepts God's "insults." He insults us, too! Calls us sinners, liars, murderers, adulterers, stealer's. Psalm 14:2, "The LORD looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God." Like the mother, we must not give up hope when His Word and the Ten Commandments blame, insult and condemn us. Also, when God shows a cross, angry face and seems not to hear or answer our prayers in time of trouble, sickness or death, we must not stop praying. We must continue to confess our sins and hope and pray that He will pity us and help us.

Let us kneel before Him, confessing our sins, but pleading His mercy and forgiveness, as this mother did. Jesus will not send us away. He promises to hear and forgive and help. He says, "He that comes to Me, I will not cast out." He loves us. He died on the cross to win win forgiveness of all our sins. He now lives to hear and answer our prayers. He helped this woman. (Read text and also tell how Mark explains that when the mother arrived home she found her daughter resting peacefully on the bed.) Psalm 50:15-16, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me."

May God give us all a wonderful faith like this mother!

Amen.