Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37:5.

May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.

As it is written: “No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9.

Our chapter, Matthew 15, shows us how far off the mark we are in understanding Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. Which is why Jesus, the Son, came. Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” (Isaiah 29:13). Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” Then the disciples came to Him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” He replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” v. 1-20. And what was another tradition of the people then and probably now? Calling other human beings “dogs”. Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came to Him and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before Him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. v. 21-28. She knelt before Him. She knew He was the only one who could help her and her daughter. She knelt before Him! Don’t miss that tender moment of worship and faith. And then, a repeat of the feeding of the 5,000 men with women and children, but this time 4,000 men and women and children were fed from the blessing of 7 loaves and a few small fish with 7 basketsful of food left over. v. 32-39. And what is amazing about this account is that the disciples asked the same question, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?” v. 33. And they had already experienced His turning the small amount of available food to enough to nourish crowds of people with food left over. What about us? Do we experience over and over the small amount of faith and blessings that we take in, heedless and forgetful of where that faith and those blessings came from? Are we just as blind? Do we choose to be led by those who are blind? Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty…For I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. For My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:35, 38-40. Our hearts have been far away from God for long enough as we put our trust in our fellow blind human beings. We miss God’s love because we aren’t looking to Him! Can we come and kneel before Him and see that our Creator God is right here and it is we ourselves who are the lost sheep. Turn to Him and let God be your help! Come to Him with worship and faith and need – because He is here moving within you – and helping you to know Him and His love for you that is real. He will never force His love. But He will be here for you when you are ready to receive.