MORE PLEASE

In a scene from the movie “Oliver Twist,” the main character stands before a threatening figure who wields power over a pot of gruel and a ladle. Without permission and to a hushed orphanage dining hall, Oliver raises his bowl and dares to ask for a second helping. “Please, sir. May I have some more?” All he wanted was to satisfy his hunger. He had gone without for so long and just a taste was enough to make him want more. Simply, his hunger was greater than the rules which kept him and others in their place. Do the rules of this world keep you from wanting more of Jesus?

The Canaanites weren’t Jews and were viewed in the same unfavorable light as the Gentiles. But there was a woman – a Canaanite woman, who knew of Jesus’ reputation. This woman, despite the rules that kept her people in their place, was hungry for more. She was desperate for her daughter to receive a healing touch from The Healer. The world may have offered her something, but the mere thought of what Jesus had to give made her hungry for more. And she was willing to eat whatever Jesus or even the world dished out to satisfy that hunger. Are you satisfied with what the world has to offer or do you want more from God?

As all eyes remained riveted on the woman who came and knelt before Jesus, I’m sure you could speculate the crowd’s nonverbal response. “Who does she think she is asking the Lord for help?” She knew she was more than a despised Canaanite woman. But what the crowd didn’t know was she was hungry for a healer, hungry for truth. She knelt before Jesus with a bowlful of faith and a spoonful of hope. As you read her story in Matthew 15, the dialogue between her and Jesus was amazing. Jesus said, “It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table" (vs. 26-27). This Canaanite woman received more than crumbs that day. Her bowl was filled and her daughter was healed!

Do the rules of this world leave you feeling dissatisfied? Are you tired of what others think of your need for more? Our Savior offers the world endless morsels of life-giving bread (John 6:35) and living water (John 4:10). In return, He wants us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

Paul prayed this prayer over the Ephesians and I pray it satisfies your hungry soul (Ephesians 3:14-20):

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in Heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your Hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us! Amen.