the God who meets us
I found myself in Matthew 15 today. I always ask Holy Spirit to teach me something new before I dig in. Looking ahead at the paragraph header for verse 21, I felt my body tense and I stopped breathing. (I’ve learned that’s what I tend to do when I’m stressed.) I comforted myself with remembering that He’s walked me through it before, and He’ll surely do it again. It’s one of those passages that has felt contradictory for me. How could Jesus, who loved people enough to give up His position and His life, talk to a woman in distress the way He did? Honestly, historically this story has had the ability to sink me. Even the bible can be used against us if we’ve misunderstood the character of God or our own identity. Perhaps it was a little PTSD kicking in this morning when I saw what was ahead. Thankfully, His character and my value are now more firmly established in my mind, and I was able to press into it knowing that even if it brought up some junk for me, the Healer was with me in it.
Last time I read it, I wrestled deeply with the Lord over it. “Teach me God. I know you are Good, so why did you make her grovel to receive a miracle?” Like He often does in the moment, He didn’t really answer the question I was asking. He let me wrestle with it and dialogue with Him over it, reasoning what I knew from the scriptures and asking Him question after question. I finally landed on— “I don’t know. And I don’t have to. I believe your word. It says you’re good and you do only good. Whether I understand or not, you’re still good. You define good.“ Surrendering my desire to understand, I felt his peace and then I heard Him say: “You, like the Canaanite woman are sure of who I am, and so you press in - even when it’s painful. I’ll reward that, it pleases me.”
I guess that might be why I hesitated today. I remembered that He met me there in a precious way, but I also remembered the deep wrestling that came with it and I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to go there today. As I read it again I felt the Lord’s delight over her perseverance. She knew He was the answer to what she needed and she pressed in relentlessly. And then I saw it. He’s the God who meets us where we are at. Other encounters raced through my head including some of my own. The one that contrasted loudest was the woman at the well in John 4. I wonder if she would have even acknowledged His presence had Jesus not spoken to her first. The Samaritan woman needed God to reach down and draw her out. Unlike her, the Canaanite woman was already well convinced that Jesus is the answer to everything. Perhaps what she needed was to expand her confidence to persevere in the hard, to stand on faith no matter the resistance or to build some spiritual muscles. Jesus knows where we are at, what is needing change or strengthening in us. No one is as invested in our progress in the faith as He is. He’s the ultimate coach. I don’t know if any of the names of God in scripture mean the same thing as coach or not. Teacher might be the closest.
Like many things He teaches me, it seems so obvious after the fact. I’m in awe of the personal way that He meets us. Jeremiah 33:3 says “Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.” He doesn’t always answer me on my time-table, but truly He does answer us and awe us with His ways. I hope you are motivated to press into Him with your questions. He’s the God who meets us where we are at and knows exactly what we need in the moment, even if we don’t.
