The gospel of Matthew tells a story that might disturb some believers: The Gentile woman with the demon-possessed daughter.

This woman seeks Jesus so persistently the disciples say, “Lord, send her away. Get rid of her. She won’t stop bothering us.” Note Jesus’ response to the woman’s pleas: “He answered her not a word” (Matthew 15:23, NKJV). Evidently, Christ ignored the whole situation. Why would he do this? Jesus knew this woman’s story would be told to every future generation, and he wanted to reveal a truth to all who would read it. So he tested the woman’s faith by saying, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). Christ was saying, “I came for the salvation of the Jews. Why should I waste their gospel on a Gentile?”

Now this statement would have sent most of us on our way, but this woman didn’t budge. I ask you, how often do you give up on prayer? How many times have you grown weary and reasoned, “I’ve sought the Lord. I prayed and asked. I just don’t get any results”?

Consider how this woman responded. She didn’t reply with a complaint or an accusing finger, saying, “Why are you denying me, Jesus?” No, scripture says just the opposite. “Then she came and worshipped Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me’” (Matthew 15:25).

What follows next is hard to read. Once again, Jesus rebuffed the woman. Only this time his reply was even harsher. He told her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (Matthew 15:26). Once again, he was testing her.

Now the mother answered him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27). What an incredible reply. This determined woman was not going to relent in her pursuit of Jesus, and the Lord commended her for it. Jesus said to her, “’O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour” (Matthew 15:28).

Beloved, we are not to settle for crumbs. We have been promised all the grace and mercy we need for our crises. That includes every crisis involving our families, saved or unsaved. We’ve been invited to come boldly to Christ’s throne with confidence.

Many believers don’t want to believe that they will suffer hardship or know pain, but scripture has a very different word for us.

“Let not the floodwater overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up…Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good…and do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble” (Psalm 69:15-17, NKJV). Clearly waters of affliction flood the lives of the godly.
“For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs.… We went through fire and through water” (Psalm 66:10-12). Who brings us into a net of afflictions? God himself does.
“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now I keep Your word…. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalm 119:67, 71). These verses make it perfectly clear. It’s good for us—it even blesses us—to be afflicted.
Consider the Psalmist’s testimony: “I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications…. The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord: O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!” (Psalm 116:1-4). Here was a faithful servant who loved God and had great faith; yet he faced the sorrows of pain, trouble and death.

We find this theme throughout the Bible. God’s Word loudly declares that the path of the faithful is through the floods and fires: “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth…. I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you” (Isaiah 43:2). “For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’” (Isaiah 41:13).

This last verse holds an important key: In every wilderness we face, our Father is holding our hand, yet only those who go through the wilderness get this hand of comfort. He outstretches it to those who are caught in raging rivers of trouble.

There comes a time when certain life situations are beyond human hope. There is no counsel, no doctor, no medicine or anything else that can help. The situation has become impossible. It requires a miracle, or else it will end in devastation.

At such times, the only hope left is for someone to get to Jesus. That person has to take the responsibility to get hold of Jesus, and they have to determine, “I’m not leaving until I hear from the Lord. He has to tell me, ‘It’s done. Now go your way.’”

In the Gospel of John, we find just such a family in crisis: “There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum” (John 4:46, NKJV). This was a family of distinction, but a spirit of death hung over the home as the parents nursed their dying son. Someone in that troubled family knew who Jesus was and had heard of his miraculous power. Word came to the household that Christ was in Cana, about twenty-five miles away. In desperation, the father took it on himself to get through to the Lord. Scripture tells us, “When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him” (John 4:47).

The Bible says he “implored Him [Jesus] to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death” (4:47). What a marvelous picture of intercession. This man set aside everything to seek the Lord to provide a word.

Christ answered him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe” (John 4:48). What did Jesus mean by this? He was telling the nobleman that a miraculous deliverance wasn’t his most pressing need. Instead, the number-one issue was the man’s faith.

Christ desired more for this man and his family. He wanted them to believe he was God in flesh. So he said to the nobleman, in essence, “Do you believe it’s God you’re beseeching for this need? Do you believe I am the Christ, the savior of the world?” The nobleman replied, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” (John 4:49). At that point, Jesus must have seen faith in this man. It was as if Jesus said, “He believes I’m God in flesh” because next we read, “Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your son lives’” (John 4:50).

“Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us” (2 Corinthians 1:10, NKJV). What an incredible statement! Paul is saying, “The Spirit delivered me out of a hopeless situation. He’s delivering me even now. He will continue to deliver me in all my afflictions.”

Receiving the Holy Spirit isn’t evidenced by some emotional manifestation. I do believe there are manifestations of the Spirit, but what I’m talking about here is receiving the Spirit through ever-increasing knowledge. Receiving him means having an ever-increasing light about his delivering power, his burden bearing, his provision.

I repeat Peter’s words: “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3). According to Peter, the divine power of the Spirit doesn’t come as a manifestation. He comes first “through the knowledge of him who called us.”

Moreover, the Holy Spirit is not fully received until he is fully in charge. We have to cast ourselves totally into his care.

Let me give a final example to illustrate this. In Genesis 19, we find Lot and his family in a terrible crisis. Judgment was about to fall on their city, Sodom, and so God had sent his angels to deliver them. Lot opened his door to these messengers of the Lord, and they entered the house. They had the power of heaven to deliver that whole family, but in the end, the angels had to force their will on Lot and his family, dragging them out of Sodom. The angels’ message was clear: “If you want God to be in control, then you have to give up the reins. If you look to him for deliverance, you’ve got to let go of your plans and be willing to go his way.”

God’s plan all along was to deliver Lot’s family in the process of fleeing. He was going to feed and clothe and take care of them. But, as we all know, Lot’s wife looked back and died. In short, the Holy Spirit doesn’t use his power to deliver doubters. Unbelief aborts his work. We have to be willing to let him make changes in our lives, if that is God’s chosen way of delivering us.

I want to talk to you about “soul sickness.” This is caused by a flood of troubles coming upon you. King David cried, “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying” (Psalm 69:1-3, NKJV).

Troubles came at David so powerfully that he thought he would collapse. He prayed, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; my eye wastes away with grief, yes, my soul and my body!” (Psalm 31:9).

Some people right now are facing a flood of fears. Multitudes of elderly people are living on starvation means. Parents grieve over children who are drawn away by drug and alcohol-addicted friends. Couples have mounting mortgage payments, troubled marriages, bills piling up. The root cause of soul sickness is when your troubles go on and on, when events get worse, when your soul cries out to God for help, and there seems to be no answer. Soul sickness is to know the Lord, to love him, to pray and even to shed tears, and still he does not seem to be there.

David said his troubles became so overwhelming and his soul was so cast down that “I cannot even speak.” In other words, “I have cried so much there are no tears left. All I can see now is despair in the days ahead.” If you relate to this at all, I have hopeful news for you. Here are simple biblical truths that can heal your soul sickness:

Keep praying, even when the situation worsens. God is going to answer in his time, in ways you could not imagine. The hardest part of faith is the last half hour just before the answer comes.
Do not get mad at God! All unbelief and impatience imply that the Lord has picked you out of the masses in the world and made you the object of cruelty and harassment. God forbid! If he were to shut his ear to your cries, he would be a fraud; and he is not. He is your almighty, loving, forgiving Father.
Shake off fear because it’s a torment. Instead, rest in his promises. All things do work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose. Look up. God will never fail you!