Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” And He said to her, “Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left. Mark 7:24-30

I work every Monday night with a group of people who’ve lost their jobs. We try to see this dire predicament in the best light possible; that they’re “in-between jobs.”

There are technical things we talk about, like preparing a good résumé and active networking which can help them regain employment. But we also stress that there’s an almighty God behind all this who can pull strings. The key is putting one’s self “out there,” armed with the confidence that only faith can produce.

I came upon this account of the Syrophoenician women, a Gentile, who made an audacious request of Jesus, who, in his humanity, was desperately seeking some rest. Here we see how persistence and directness in our negotiations with God can work.

She had no right to be there before the Lord, and as we hear in his response, she was not his first priority.  The Jews were. Undaunted she “kept asking” him to take the demon from her daughter. Her logic was impeccable. She argued that even people like her were certainly, at the very least, due the crumbs a pet dog might find under the table from those same children. “Because of this answer” the Lord granted her request.

This tells us a lot about the power of scriptural prayer. There are hundreds upon hundreds of truisms in the Word that can be used as your case in point.

As my mom used to tell me, “It doesn’t hurt to ask.”