Prayer can be a lonely exercise. When life is good, and troubles are few prayer is rather easy, (Praise the Lord!) or nonexistent. After all, when you have few or no trials in life, you have little to no reason to pray. However, when troubles are many, prayer can become lonely and desperate, for when our needs are strongly felt, when danger is near, help is needed as soon as possible.
David, in Psalm 13 reflects the often lonely struggle we can have with prayer. In painful words, this Psalm begins, “How long, O Lord?” The emotional thrust of a God silent to pleas for mercy and help is viscerally felt in these words. Perhaps you have been at a time and place where, in desperate hope, you wondered why God was silent to your need, why His face seemed to be turns away from you in your moment of sorrow.
In Matthew 15 we read the account of a Canaanite woman whose need and sorrow over the affliction of her daughter knew no end. Though she was not a “lost sheep of the house of Israel” because the Word of God was known to her from her Jewish neighbors, she was waiting for the promised messiah to come and make all things new. Hearing the work of Jesus, of His mercy in healing the sick, and driving out demons, she came with a desperate prayer on her lips, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
We expect Jesus to be a man of compassion. When a needy person comes, when a trouble soul finds his or her way into the presence of the Lord, we expect His response to be one of compassion. Not so here. Jesus is cold, and maybe even a little racist toward this person in need. God in human flesh and blood is silent in the face of this need – or so it appears at first.
“Faith is the conviction of things hoped for, the assurance of things not seen.” In prayer, this unnamed Canaanite woman grabs hold of Jesus, and by faith wrests from the Lord of all a blessing. Such is the faith that Jesus says can move mountains. Never giving up on the promises of God’s Word, she finds hope and healing. This same promise is yours. By faith in Jesus, even in the hour of desperate need and prayer, Jesus, who is faithful, will always do as He says.