May God be with us again tonight
as we together turn to his word. And we'll turn to the chapter
that we read together in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter
15 and reading the opening words of
verse 23. Matthew chapter 15 and verse
23. But he answered her, not a word. But he answered her, not a word. In the Old Testament, we read
of a lady called Hannah. And Hannah, for many years, longed
for a son, a child. And her, the other wife of her,
husband had children and it was a great grief to Hannah that
she had to go many years, many years of longing, no doubt. We read in the first book of
Samuel of the occasion that she goes into the tabernacle at Shiloh
and she prays. She pours out her heart before
the Lord. She does it silently and Eli
sees her lips moving and misjudges her, but she truly prays. And she comes back with her child. And she says that the Lord, he
has heard. For this child I prayed, she
says. And she presents Samuel to the
Lord there. And then in her song of rejoicing,
in chapter two, the first book of Samuel, She says these words,
the Lord killeth and he maketh alive. And she said that with
experience because she had known both of those things. She'd known
what it was to be brought down and she'd known what it was to
be brought up again. She had had years of grief and
anguish and yet She then knew a time of great joy, not just
because she had a child, but because God had answered her
prayer, because God had taken notice of her. And surely that
added immeasurably to the joy of holding her son. But no doubt,
Hannah's prayer in the tabernacle was not Hannah's first prayer. Because surely in the years of
grief and struggle, she prayed. Surely she sought to take it
to the Lord. And yet she endured silence. She went through times when no
doubt she wondered if the Lord would ever appear. And then finally,
as we know, we pick up the account, and he does. But before the wonderful
answer, before the wonderful blessing of Samuel, the Lord
knew, sorry, Hannah knew what it was, in her experience, for
the Lord to kill her, to bring her down. And she had to walk through that
valley before she knew the joy in the morning. And thinking
of that, and thinking of this woman that we've read of and
we'll consider tonight in Matthew 15, we can see that for one,
one of the greatest trials and agonies for the believer is a
path of seemingly unanswered prayer. And I use that word carefully. It is seemingly unanswered prayer. Because God does answer prayer.
He does it in his way and his time. It's not always the answer
we expect. But to us, at a time it can seem
that he is not heard and it can seem that he will not answer. And if we walk through that time,
and if we have to endure that experience, it can provoke many
questions in our minds. We can question, is there even
a God? Is there a God who hears me?
Is there a God who reigns in heaven? And if there is, is there
a God who can answer? Has God not heard? Or is God
unable to hear and answer my prayer? We may also ask, well, if I accept
there is a God, does unanswered prayer prove that I am not his
child? Because God hears the prayers
of his people. And if he doesn't answer me, then the conclusion
might be, am I his child at all? Because if I was, like as a father
knows how to give good gifts unto his children, shall he not
give good gifts unto those that ask him? And so I ask, I do not
receive, and therefore maybe he's not my father, we might
conclude that. We might question whether perhaps
we have sinned away any blessing that once we knew. That is, we
are not worthy of an answer. We have lost his favor and he
will not hear and answer our prayer because we have sinned
our way out of the blessing. Perhaps you might question whether
his promises to hear and answer prayer where there is promises
to receive and bless the seeker. His promises to do miracles,
to do the impossible, are not true. Or if they are, they're
not for us. And so unanswered prayer can
provoke many questions and the devil will do his best to bring
many doubts, many questions, much unbelief into our minds. And yet it's still a path that
we at times have to walk. Now this woman here, she had
many discouragements. And she had a time of seemingly
unanswered prayer. And yet, as we will see, she
didn't stop praying. She walked out the words of the
Lord Jesus, though she might not have literally heard them
herself, she walked out the sentiment of them that men ought always
to pray and not to faint. And this woman puts those words
into action. She does those words. She walks it out. And this woman can be a great
encouragement as well as full of instruction for us in this
topic, this subject of unanswered prayer. Well, firstly, I want
to look at the discouragements that she had. The negative side,
we might say, to this passage. The discouragements that she
had to endure in her prayer. The things, you might say, that
pointed towards the fact that she wouldn't receive an answer. First of all, who is she? We're
told, Jesus went thence, departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. Behold, a woman of Canaan came
out of the same coasts. He is on the edge of Israel,
northern coast, top of the coast. This woman's described as a woman
of Canaan. In other passages, we're told
she's a Syrophoenician woman. So there's a connection with
the Greeks. Either way, we can conclude that she was not of
Israel. She was, we would say, a Gentile. Therefore, she, because of her
very heritage, because of who she was, should not expect an
answer from the Lord. You know, you think of the A
time when the Lord goes to see, meets that woman of Samaria in
John chapter four, and we're told that the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. And it's a wonder to the people
of Samaria that he comes to them and speaks to them and blesses
them. Well, even more so here, there
should be no expectation that this woman, this Gentile woman,
would know a blessing of a Jewish man. She comes to him as an outsider. And so her very person should
discourage her. Now, what about us and our prayers? Surely our very person discourages
us. We are sinners. Naturally, by nature, we're outside
of the kingdom of God. And we are therefore in ourselves
and because of who we are and because of what we are, we are
unworthy to come into this presence. We are unworthy to come with
our requests to the Lord. There is nothing in us that commends
us to him. We are fallen sinners, fallen
in Adam. And so you might say, why would
Jesus received this woman of Canaan. And we might also then
say, why would the holy spotless Son of God receive us? Why would
he hear my prayers? I'm not a child by nature, I'm
a rebel. And so there's nothing in me
that commends me to the Lord, and there's nothing in you that
commends you to him. And so who you are is a discouragement. Secondly, she had a problem.
She had a great problem. Her daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. Grievously. This is a great problem. It's a problem which she cannot
solve herself. And as a mother, she must have
watched the torment in her daughter with great sorrow. She had to
see what this affliction, what this devil was doing, however
it manifested itself, we don't know, but she had to witness
it. She had to look on and she must
have felt as a mother that pain and agony and that sense of helplessness
of what her daughter was passing through. She loved her, no doubt. And because she loved her, the
situation was all the harder. It's impossible for her. She
comes with an impossible situation. So you might say, well, surely
this discouragement was, and she doesn't come with a simple
problem. She doesn't come with a little thing. She comes with
a need for a miracle. Do you feel discouraged tonight
to come to the Lord in prayer because your problem is so big? Because you have such a mountain
and you think or attempted to think that your problem is too
hard for the Lord. You conclude that your sins are
too great. That your soul is unsavable. You're beyond hope. It's impossible that the Lord
could ever love a sinner like you. And it's such a miracle that you
need that you wonder whether the Lord could ever hear and
could ever answer. And so the devil will say to
you, look at the mountain of your sin, look at the state of
your heart, look at the doubts and the unbelief that you struggle
with, look at your life, look at the things you do, look at
the thoughts in your mind, and he will say, what's the point? What's the point in praying and
seeking the Lord? He wouldn't hear a sinner like
you. She had a great problem. A third
discouragement is that in coming to the Lord she had nothing to
bring. She had nothing to bring to him. She says, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. That's the
only grounds that she has. She doesn't say, I'll give you
something, I'll bring some gift or some money or I will even
do anything. The only grounds that she has
for asking for the blessing of the Lord is mercy. That the Lord
will act on her behalf out of his wonderful grace, out of his
kindness, out of his mercy. She has nothing else that she
can say, nothing else that she can do, nothing else that she
can bring to the Lord. It's only mercy. Tonight, do we feel, as we come
in prayer, that we have nothing to bring? In fact, the only thing
we can bring is our need. The only thing we can bring is
our sense of emptiness, our sense of fallenness, a need, and nothing
else. As the hymn puts it, nothing
but sin I thee can bring. Nothing to please him. Nothing
to commend us to Him. So how dare we approach Him in
prayer? How dare we come to Him? Because
we have nothing to bring. To the Holy, Sovereign Lord,
to the King of Kings, to our Creator, to the One who has made
us, the One who sustains us, how can we approach to Him empty-handed,
with nothing? Well, she brought nothing, so
why should He hear her? The fourth discouragement. She
was met with a painful silence. She was met with silence. He
answered her not a word. Nothing. He said nothing. Not a word. You could say she was ignored. He didn't say anything. No encouragement
at all. And you say, but surely the Lord,
he received those who came to him, didn't he? He always helps
those who come in their needs, doesn't he? He always hears their
prayer. He is delighted to hear them
cast their cares upon him. And yet this woman came and she
was ignored. He answered her, not a word. Now we know she wasn't ignored.
Of course he had noticed her. But from her point of view, she
is met with silence. Now, tonight are we having to
bear silence? I don't know what it might be
for you this evening, but are you bringing your prayers to
the Lord? You've got perhaps a particular case, a particular
circumstance. Perhaps something you've not
shared with anyone else, but it's a great thing. To you, it's
an impossibility. You can't see an answer. And
you have every encouragement from God's word to bring it to
the Lord in prayer. And that's what you're doing.
And you're bringing it humbly. You're bringing it, pouring out
your heart before him. You're telling him your need.
But tonight are you being met with silence? And all these questions are flowing
into your minds. Why? Why? And it's painful, isn't it? To
having to bear silence. And you keep being told. And
you keep reading in His Word. And you keep hearing the minister
saying, God answers prayer. God does miracles for His people. God hears the cries of the destitute,
and you say, but not mine. Doesn't hear mine. There's just
silence. And you know just a little bit,
just a little bit, what Jesus meant when he said, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from my roaring? There was a painful silence,
what a discouragement for her, in her need. A fifth discouragement,
you see there's quite a few. Her fifth discouragement, look
at the disciples. His disciples came and besought
him saying, send her away, for she crieth after us. The disciples
didn't encourage her, did they? They didn't come alongside her
and say, fear not, he will hear, he will answer. Be patient. There's no encouragement from
them. They want to get rid of her. They want to send her away.
They're fed up with her crying after them. And so there's no encouragement
from anyone. There's no encouragement from the Lord. There's no encouragement
from his people, from his disciples. There's only active discouragement. Now tonight, do you feel there's
no encouragement from others? You're walking the path alone.
So you feel the people, they just
don't understand. They wouldn't understand. Couldn't explain
it to them. If you did, they would misunderstand
you. If you brought it, they wouldn't really know what you
meant. They wouldn't know the pain and the agony and the questions
that are running around in your mind, in your heart. And does
it seem as if even the Lord's people and the words that you
read and the sermons that you hear about prayer and about God,
they don't encourage you. In fact, they seem to mock you
and discourage you. And everything seems to be telling
you to give up. The world tells you to give up.
Enjoy what the world can give you. The devil tells you to give
up. The Lord's not going to hear
you. You tell yourself to give up. Perhaps you feel that even
the Lord's people are telling you to give up. They wouldn't
mean that, they wouldn't say that, but maybe that's how you
feel. There's no encouragement. Even the disciples wanted to
send her away. You say, well, it's all very
well for Christians who say they've had their prayers answered, but
I haven't. It counts me out. The sixth discouragement. Jesus
tells her. that he has not come for her. He answered and said, I am not
sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What
he is saying is, I didn't come for you. You're not of the house
of Israel. She's a woman of Canaan. He didn't
come for her. Can we imagine a greater discouragement
than that? From the mouth of the Lord himself?
It didn't come for you. It came for the house, the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. And so do we conclude in our
prayers that the Lord just, He hasn't come for us? Yes, we know
some are saved. We know some are lost. We know
that God in His sovereignty has a people. And are you concluding
this evening that unanswered prayer is confirming that you
are lost? I didn't come for you. I came
for others, but not for you. Have we reached that conclusion? So there's no point praying because
nothing can change that state. Nothing can change where I am.
I'm outside. I must be outside because God
doesn't hear me. And nothing can change that.
So I may as well stop praying. I may as well just enjoy what
years I've got in this life. There's no point seeking the
Lord anymore, there's no point coming in prayer because I'm
not one of his sheep, because he doesn't hear me. Is that your
thinking this evening? Sinking into despair. I'm not sent, but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. And then sixthly, a seventh father,
one more discouragement. She was discouraged even after
She worshipped him. Look, she came and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, help me. Oh, what a simple prayer. She's brought down to three simple
words, everything else stripped away, three simple, desperate
words, Lord, help me. And it's in an attitude of worship. She comes and honors him. She
comes to acknowledge who he is. She worships him. She falls before
him. She knows that he is able to
do what she is asking. She knows he is God. She honors,
she worships him with a simple prayer. You may have thought
that surely now, having been brought to this place, surely
now have been cut down to, Lord, help me, surely now. she'll receive
an answer. But no, it is not meant to take
the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. He calls her a dog. Now we would never falsely accuse
the Lord, of course, we'd never accuse him of unkindness, but
you think for this woman, it's almost an insult here, isn't
there? You're a dog. an outsider a gentile and there's
bread for the children not for you not for the dogs oh what a discouragement for
her in her prayer there now tonight have you been reduced to this
prayer Lord help me don't know what to ask for anymore sometimes
we come to God don't we we know what we're asking for We come,
we want this, we want that. We believe that this is the right
way. This is where we open the doors and we say, Lord, this
is the way, please make this possible for us. But then sometimes God brings
us to a point and say, I simply don't know. I simply don't know. And he brings us down to this,
Lord, help me, help me. Whatever might be right, whatever's
the right way, whatever I need, Lord, help me. We come in utter
dependence upon Him. We come in this spirit of humility.
We come even in the spirit of worship. Lord, Thou art God,
and Thou alone. Thou knowest the way. Thou art
all wisdom. Thou art all goodness. Thou art
all kindness. I fall before Thee, and in my
desperate need, I just, Lord, help me. Lord help me. And yet, do you still feel discouraged? Because the children receive
the blessing. And it's not right, it's not
me to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. And so what might we conclude? Naturally speaking, what could
this woman conclude? It's time to give up, isn't it? The Lord's not going to hear
her. He's not going to answer her prayer. He is not going to
heal her daughter. He himself has actively discouraged
her. The disciples have told her to
go away. And so it's time to give up. Tonight, if we concluded this,
whatever need, whatever prayers we might have before the Lord
this evening, if we concluded this, it's time to give up. Have
you concluded that in a matter of your soul? It's time to stop
asking. Time to stop praying for mercy,
time to stop praying for his blessing. Well, these are all the discouragements,
but there are glimmers, aren't there, here, of encouragement,
glimmers of encouragement for her and for us. Look who she comes to. Have mercy
on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. Look who she comes to, she comes
to the Lord. The Son of David, that's the
name for the Messiah. She believes him to be the Christ,
the promised saviour. And she believes him to be the
Lord. There is no doubt in her mind that he is able to hear
her prayer. There's no doubt that he is able
to answer her prayer. She knows him to be the Lord.
She knows him to be the Christ, the son of David. And so she
knows that nothing's too hard for him, which is why she brings
her impossibility to him. She knows he can do these things. And so tonight, surely we can
hold to this, this encouragement in our prayers. He is able to
hear. We cannot conclude that he is
not able. We cannot clue that he's not
able to hear or to answer. He's the Lord, he's the Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
himself. There's nothing too hard for
the Lord. And so we cannot conclude that
he is unable. That matter, that impossibility
you've got, And that burden of your soul, He is able to save. He is able to forgive. He is
able to bless. He is able to do that wonderful
and tremendous miracle for you. He said He's able to save unto
the uttermost those that come unto God by Him. He's able to
cleanse them from all their sins. He is able, He's the Lord. It's the son of David. And so
here's this encouragement that no doubt she holds on to. This
is one reason she keeps pressing on. It's because he is her only
hope. Because he is the Lord God, the
son of David. And surely this is what pushes
us on, isn't it? And must encourage us to keep
coming and keep seeking and keep praying because he's the king
of kings. Because he is able to hear you. Even the mountains shall flow
down at his presence. That impossibility, you can't
see any way over it, you can't see any way round it. There's
a shut door. Even that can flow down at his
presence. He is well able. Even the burden
of your sin and the dreadful state of your heart, he is able.
to save you to the uttermost. We mustn't limit God. And so
there's an encouragement. But here's another one for her. She says it herself. The dogs
eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table. The dogs
eat the crumbs. What she's saying is this. She
owns the name, doesn't she? She doesn't dispute it. In a
sense, she takes it. She acknowledges that she's a
dog. But she says, that in itself
doesn't exclude me from hope. That in itself doesn't exclude
me. Because even the dogs take the
crumbs from the master's table, even they receive something. She's saying, there's still hope. Even in all these discouragements,
yes, I'm a woman of Canaan, yes, I've been described of a dog,
yes, I'm not of the house of Israel, but there's something
for me, isn't there? And so, she's got this wonderful
faith to hold on to this something, just something for me. How the Lord receives sinners.
came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. That mercy doesn't come to the
worthy. It doesn't come to the great
and the good. If it did come to the worthy
and those who deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy anymore. Mercy
is undeserved. It's unmerited. Mercy is bestowed
by God. It's given. It's a gift. Oh, he gives mercy. And this
mercy for this woman is that there might be just something
for her falling from the table, something for me. Oh, surely
there could be something for you. I don't deserve great things,
but I need something. Some encouragement from the Lord
that there is mercy for me, that there is mercy forgiveness for
me. There is a God who has heard
me. There's a God who will appear for me. Yes, I'm but a dog, but
surely there's a blessing even for me. Encouragement pushes
us on. Keep coming. To keep praying,
yes, there could be something for you. Even the dogs. Eat of the crumbs which fall
from the master's table. And so there's glimmers of encouragement.
And look, there's the answer, isn't there? Oh woman, great
is thy faith. The faith that kept her coming,
the faith that brought her in the first place, and the faith
that wouldn't let go. I'm sure she didn't feel like
she had great faith. But she had a great need. And
she believed in a great God. and holding these two things,
she came and she kept coming. And you might think, I haven't
got great faith. But what is it which is making you hold on? What is it that's saying, I will
not let thee go except thou bless me? What is it that keeps bringing
that mountain? What keeps bringing your soul
to God? What is it that keeps pleading to the Lord to bless
you? What is that if it's not faith? You might say, it seems
so small. I feel like the disciples on
the Sea of Galilee, such little faith. Well, he says, great is thy faith.
Because it kept her coming. It kept her praying. And he answered
her, be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter was
made whole from that very hour. He gave her the answer. Look,
every discouragement wasn't the end of the line, was it? I'm not present but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. It's not me to take the children's
bread and cast it to dogs. They was not the end. Because he was going to bless
her. Was going to hear her and answer her. Be it unto thee,
even as thou wilt. He will come. He will hear. He will answer, even in the painful
silence that we're in right now, even in the struggles and the
doubts and the questions that you're walking through tonight.
He will come in his way, his time, for his purpose, for his
glory, but he will come. And so just in closing, I just
want to just try and address perhaps this question. Why does
he delay? Why does he delay? Why is there
such a thing as unanswered prayer or seemingly unanswered prayer?
Well, firstly we have to acknowledge this. We cannot and we do not
understand the mind of God. We cannot always understand his
ways. We cannot always see in our wisdom, as we see things,
why God might do things. Only eternity will tell us in
the end. We cannot always be sure, and
we will not always know. But we can see just a few thoughts,
a few ideas from this passage, why it doesn't always answer
straight away. And one reason, surely, is to draw out our prayer,
to draw out the cry. He worked to keep her praying,
to keep her coming. And there was evidence there,
wasn't there, of her need and of her heart as she keeps coming. It shows to us the urgency of
it. It wasn't just a small thing
that she could just take a rebuttal, as it were, and pass on and say,
oh, well, never mind. No, it shows the urgency. And
he would have her keep coming. He would have her keep praying
to draw out this this prayer, to bring her to this point. Lord,
help me. Now the Lord at times works to
test us. Do we really mean it? Is our
prayer real? Is it genuine? Or is it something
that's quickly forgotten? Something that's bubbled up in
a moment and will simmer down very quickly. and we've come
and we've thought that this was so important, we've thought that
this was vital, and we've thought that this was the way, and yet
the Lord knows in His wisdom, no, it will fade away. And you will stop praying that
prayer, and it will lose its urgency, and it will lose its
importance, and you will prove that you were wrong. It wasn't
a right prayer. You'll come to see that, and
you'll see that it was God's goodness and God's wisdom in not answering
your prayer when you wanted Him to. But if it's real, if it's
God given, if it's a pressing case, then it will keep coming. And you won't be able to let
go, and you will keep wrestling with God, and you will keep bringing
it to Him. And you'll become more and more
desperate, and the burden will become heavier. And like Jacob,
the wrestling will become harder, because you will say, I will
not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he is working to
bring you to that point. Jacob wrestled a long time before
he said that. And God knew he needed to keep
wrestling until he said that. And so he may be working to draw
out this prayer. to prove that it's of God. Another reason why he delays,
surely, is to show that indeed he is a merciful God. That in
due time, once he's cut them down, he will show his mercy
to them. Like Hannah, he killeth and he
maketh alive. And for this woman, he shows
his grace and his mercy in due time, but he will bring her down
first. Because he'll bring her to a
point that she has to openly acknowledge that she does not
deserve it. She has to take the title of
a dog. She has to acknowledge that she
doesn't deserve the children's bread. And she has to have it
highlighted to her that she is not of the House of Israel. And
she has to come to that point where he cuts her right down,
and she acknowledges she doesn't deserve it, and when she's there,
she proves his mercy. She knew she needed his mercy
right at the beginning, but she proves that the answer is an
act of mercy, because she's been brought right down. Surely, the time of waiting makes
the answer all the more wonderful. that the weeping that endures
for the night makes the joy in the morning all the more bright. And that when the Lord brings
us to the point that we know we do not deserve an answer,
and we do not deserve his mercy, and we do not deserve his grace,
shows that when he does answer, it is a wonderful answer of mercy. And so it shows that wonderful
attribute of God, of grace and mercy, in a way that we may not
have seen in another path. Another reason is because it
proves to us that it really is Him that answers our prayer. It really is Him. Brings us to a point that there's
no doubt that it's God who has done it. Perhaps we wouldn't recognize
his hand otherwise. You might sometimes think, well,
why do we pray? This is a whole other subject
we certainly haven't got time to cover tonight, but you might
think, well, why do we pray? God knows what he's doing. God
is sovereign. God's will will be done. Your
prayer in that sense can't change God's will, you can't change
God's mind as if you know better than he does, can't make him
change his views or change his course. He's a sovereign God
who has a perfect will. And throughout all eternity past,
he's known what he is going to do today and tomorrow and in
the years ahead. And so what could your prayer
possibly do to him? That's a very big and complicated
theological question. But surely one thing is this,
prayer is not that we change his mind, Prayer is in fact a
blessing for us. Would we recognize his hand if
we didn't ask for it? Would we recognize his goodness
if we didn't pray for it? Would we see his miracles in
our life if we didn't ask and we weren't brought to a point
that we realized our need of them? No, we wouldn't. It would just be the occurrence
of life. We would see it as chance, or
something that came, just happened to be. But when the Lord makes
us pray, when he brings us to a point of desperation, when
he brings us to the end of ourselves, and we just have a mountain of
impossibility in front of us, and we lay it before him, and
we labor in prayer about it, when that mountain flows down,
we can say, that is the hand of God. That is his finger. and we give him the praise because
he's done the miracle. You see how God uses prayer actually
to instruct us and to bless us as we see his answers. But surely
also just one other reason he delays in this woman's case is
it is used to display the God-given faith that she had. Woman, great
is thy faith. How did she have great faith?
She'd been given great faith, hadn't she? Faith is a gift of
God. And that faith was displayed
through her having to keep coming. So in fact, God was glorified
in her faith as she kept coming and praying to him. It's God's
gift that was seen. There's an evidence of what he
had done in her own heart as she kept praying. And surely
God is glorified as he works in us. And as he brings us to
our knees, that we come, yes, in seeming, and we feel little
faith, and yet we keep coming. And he's glorified in that. Because
he's given us the gift of faith. Now there are many other reasons,
no doubt, that you can ponder on in your own time, but can
we not see that in fact, though we may not understand, and though
you may not understand the reason, and though you may never understand
the reason, for a seemingly unanswered prayer, we can see in this account
that the Lord knew what he was doing, The Lord had her purpose
and her good at hand in his mind. The Lord was working and would
work for her. The Lord is also working for
his glory. And so we can rest, though we
may not understand. We can rest that the Lord knows
the way that we take. That when he has tried us, we
shall come forth as gold. and that as for God, his way
is perfect, though at times it seems hard to understand. Well, tonight, may we, if we
feel that this is applicable to us, that he answered her,
not a word. May the Lord give us the grace,
perhaps just that little faith, to come with this woman in the
end and say, the Lord, help me. and he will, in his way and in
his time. May God bless these thoughts
from his word this evening. Amen.