"Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. (26) But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs. (27) And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."
The poor woman, a true daughter of Abraham, who against hope believed in hope, still held out, under all discouragements; and therefore now ventures nearer to Jesus. She worshipped him in testimony of her belief in his Godhead; and the cry of the soul goes forth in the most vehement earnestness, saying, Lord help me! Oh! for grace on trying seasons, to be more clamorous, when discouragements abound; and to rest on Jesus, when every promise leading to Jesus seems shut up. Though he slay me (said one of old) yet will I trust in him. Job 13:15
Still the exercise of her faith is not finished. Jesus now speaks for the first time to her; but it, must have seemed what the Lord said as very cutting to the heart. It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. Think, Reader! how she felt, to hear those words drop from the lips of Christ. Jesus knew her, loved her, and from the first moment she cried to him; had all along determined to do for her, even more than she had asked; yet still, that faith the Lord had given her shall be tried. She is to stand forth, an everlasting monument in the Church of God, for her illustrious faith; and therefore let faith have her perfect work and lack nothing. And oh! what but grace could have enabled her to hold on and hold out; or have taught her to make that sweet reply to Jesus. Truth, Lord! y et the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table!