Fast Food Drive-Thru god

God is not a fast-food drive-thru god who will give us everything we ask in the quickest time possible.

Matthew 15.21-28

Reference:  v.27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” (NIV Bible)

Explore:  When you hear a success story it is so easy to focus on the final product and forget about the arduous journey it took to get there.  As we head towards the Olympic Games we are all ready to celebrate with our country and with our athletes the great achievements these people have made.  And yet we will never fully understand the training, the diet restrictions, the sacrifice and the pain that every athlete would have gone through to get there.  We only see the final race.  When it comes to our achievements we want to get to the final race without putting in the hard yards beforehand.  We have been dubbed the ‘instant generation’: if I want it, I’ll get it now.

Application:  We often apply this instant gratification to our faith.  ‘I need God to respond, so he must respond now.’  And yet that is not how God works.  He is not a fast-food drive-thru god who will give us everything we ask in the quickest time possible.  In reality we are often left in the waiting bay for an awfully long time.  But that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care or that we should just walk away after one try.  To have faith is to endure through the hardship and look for God, even when He seems so distant.  This Canaanite woman had great faith in Jesus.  He said ‘no’ but she persisted.  Her persistent faith lead to a great miracle, where Jesus healed her daughter without even touching her.  Does our faith extend past one disappointment?  We don’t always understand God’s ways or God’s time but in faith we persist, knowing that He knows what is best for us.

Prayer:  Lord, your ways are not always our ways.  May we have the faith to trust You and the wisdom to look back and see where you have been.  Amen.

Matthew