Little Faith, No
Faith, Great Faith – How Does God Define Mine?
Then
Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And
her daughter was healed at that moment. Matthew 15:28 (NIV)
In his book Decoder of Dreams, Daniel Donald Campbell, shares the story of Sir
Wilfred Grenfell, medical missionary in Labrador who found himself adrift on an
ice flow, headed out to sea. How was it possible for Sir Wilfred Grenfell to
survive the odds? This is what he says – “He mercifully killed his dogs, made a
coat out of their hides, put up a distress flag, and lay down and slept. Later
he said, There was nothing to fear. I had done all I could, the rest lay in
God’s hands.”
Every moment of my life I live because I trust and I believe in people with whom I associate. I believe in a
physician when I put my case into that physician’s hands, and trust him to cure
me. I believe in a lawyer when I leave my case in his hands, and trust him to
plead for me. I believe in a banker when I put money into his hands, and allow
him to keep it on my behalf.
The Canaanite woman is described by Jesus as having a "great faith". When we survey the bible this is the only
occurrence of that adjective describing faith in Matthew. Yet, she didn't walk
on water, as Peter did in Matthew 14. She didn't move a mountain because it
says if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can move the mountain. She
probably had never been to church in her life. She certainly had never read the
Bible. What's so great about her faith?
She doesn't approach Jesus with anything
great: no great faith, no great obedience, no great religious piety. She comes
with a great nothing: no Jewish faith, not knowing or keeping God's
commandments, if she had any religious training, it wasn't centered on the God
of Israel.
Perhaps we can define her great faith as
coming to Jesus with nothing – nothing to offer Him, yet trusting Him to give
her what she needed. She was persistent in her plea, stubborn in her faith, and
yielded in her heart, and the Lord granted her request. Jesus said she had great faith. It wasn't she who approached Jesus talking
about how great her faith was: "I really believe in you, so you should do
this for me."
What is this great faith? It’s a faith that lays hold on to Christ and
will not let go. As we continue our journey in this Lenten season how does God define our faith –
Little faith like Peter, No Faith like the Pharisees or Great Faith like the Canaanite
woman?
“Faith
for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly
delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some
things only learned in a fiery furnace.” – Oswald Chambers
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