Matthew 15:21-28 Leaving that place, Yeshua withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” 23 Yeshua did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” 25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. 26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” 28 Then Yeshua said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Being sensitive is a wonderful thing as long as it is not misdirected. We should be sensitive to the physical and spiritual needs of others. It is a wonderful thing to see Believers sensitive to others’ problems, but there are many that are too sensitive. When I was leading in Toronto, a number of people left because someone hurt their feelings. There were others that still attended, but because someone offended they stopped being active in the congregation or the ministry they were serving in. They felt justified for their actions because their feelings were hurt. I believe this is being overly sensitive.
Being overly sensitive and letting your wounded feelings stop you from serving the Lord, or cause you to leave a congregation, places your soul in danger of being lost. Our feelings are like red lights on the dashboard of life. When we begin to become sensitive with jealousy, hurt feelings, and rejection these are red lights lighting up telling us that we do not have our lives properly focused.
Let’s look at the story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28. Let’s take the test that the Lord put her through and see how she reacted and let’s think about how we would have reacted.
The woman cried: “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly. But Yeshua didn’t answer a word“. Does this seem cruel to you? I believe that if there was ever a time for someone’s feelings to be hurt this was it. I envision her, after being ignored, saying to Yeshua “Well, if that is the way you act, I will never ask you for anything again.” Let us put ourselves in this woman’s place. What would most of us do if we asked our leader a question and was ignored? Wouldn’t our feelings be hurt? Chances are we would quit the congregation with wounded feelings and feel justified in leaving. But this woman did not let Yeshua’s silence turn her off or turn her away. Obviously she was not oversensitive. How many of us would pass this test Yeshua put this woman through, especially after what happened next.
When Yeshua didn’t answer, his disciples struck at her feelings. They said, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” Surely this would have been enough to destroy her to the point that she would walk away with wounded feelings. But she did not leave. No, she was there for a purpose and she was not going to let hurt feelings get in her way.
Suppose you came to someone in the congregation and asked for something but were ignored. Would you stay or leave? If you are like this woman you would stay in spite of being ignored because you were there for God, not that person. So if you turned your back because your feelings were hurt, you would be the one to lose! God would not be pleased if you left worshiping Him because your feelings were hurt. If you let being ignored cause you to quit, what condition would your soul be in. Is not your soul more important than your feelings to let something like this make you leave? If you left, it would mean you value your feelings more than God! We must desire to know the truth regardless of the obstacles that seem to get in our way.
John 8:31-32 Then Yeshua said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
As if it was not enough, Yeshua said to the woman, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” What would you do if someone would say to you that the blessings of the Lord are not for you, they are for somebody else? Would you feel insulted? Not this woman? No “Then she came and worshipped him, saying, ”Lord, help me.” How many of us could worship under such circumstances? Our feelings would have been so hurt that we would refuse to stay, much less worship. But should we allow oversensitivity to get the best of us? Which would be more important to you; obeying the Lord and staying and worshipping Him, the reason you said you were there in the first place or running home with your hurt feelings?
But the abuse kept coming when Yeshua said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” Not many of us would have carried on the conversation after that insult. What would you have done? What would you do if someone called you a dog? Talk about having your feelings hurt. But this woman simply said, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” She would not allow her feelings to get in the way of receiving her blessing. It would have been so easy to let her feelings rob her and her daughter of the healing she desired and needed, but she would not allow it.
We tell the world that we walk by faith, not by feelings. What are you walking by? Are you a quitter because you have had your feelings hurt or are you walking by faith, even though your feelings have been hurt? Remember that next time you are ignored by someone or the leader fails to greet you, or you ask a question and are ignored.
Matthew 15:28 28 Then Yeshua said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.