Faith Wrestles with God in Prayer

Reminiscere (Lent 2)| Matthew 15:21-28| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| March 1, 2026

Come and hear, all you who fear God,
    and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
¹⁷ I cried to him with my mouth,
    and high praise was on my tongue.
¹⁸ If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
¹⁹ But truly God has listened;
    he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Psalm 66:16-19

A woman cries out to Jesus in great distress, because her daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. The Evangelist doesn’t tell us how the demon oppressed the little girl, but elsewhere Scripture tells us of the horrible things demons do. Some cause physical ailments. Demons made people deaf, mute, blind (Matthew 12:22), even paralyzed (Acts 8:7). Some caused epilepsy (Matthew 17). But the worst demon attacks are those against the mind and soul, causing shameful behavior and disturbance to the mind and conscience, doubting God’s grace and forgiveness. A man with a legion of demons ran around naked, cutting himself with stones (Mark 5:5). King Saul, tormented by an evil spirit, tried to kill David, who had the Spirit of God with him. This woman was a Canaanite, of a people known for demon worship, even child sacrifice at times. It is possible that through her participation with the occult or demon worship, she had invited the demons who oppressed her daughter.

Demon possession still happens today, as well as demon oppression. Jesus warns that when an unclean spirit is cast out, if it returns finding its place empty, it will bring seven more spirits eviler than itself (Matthew 12:45). And so, we know where the Holy Spirit is vacant, there demons love to swarm. St. Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 6, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” And so, he shows that sexual immorality may drive the Holy Spirit from you, which then invites tormenting demons to come, who try to take control. This is why David, after he committed adultery with Bathsheba, prayed, “Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51) It is also why St Paul admonishes in our Epistle lesson, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” (1 Thess. 4:3-5) Whenever God’s Word and prayer are neglected, demons are sure to move in and harass souls with unsound minds and strong temptations.

Whatever the cause, demons were tormenting this poor woman’s daughter. She heard that Jesus was coming. She had heard of the good and kind works He had done, especially in casting out demons, so she cried to Him for help. She even calls Him the Son of David, showing her knowledge and faith that He is the Christ. But she got no response from Him. Why? Why is Jesus silent to her? Surely, Jesus whom we heard last week resist every temptation of Satan, the prince of demons, could cast out a demon picking on a poor little girl. Yet he lets the girl and her mother suffer a bit longer. Why does God do this to us? When demons are harassing you, when sickness and weakness wear you down, when temptation grows so strong and it seems you are constantly losing your spiritual struggle, when you doubt God’s forgiveness and your salvation, and you cry out to the Lord, and he doesn’t answer, why doesn’t Jesus answer your prayers right away?

He does this so that we will draw closer to Him and wrestle with Him. You are not to wrestle with Satan. Rather, Scripture says you are to flee from him, resist him (John 10:5; James 4:7; 1 Cor. 6:18; 10:14; 2 Timothy 2:22), and rebuke him (Matthew 17:18). But you are not to get in long arguments with Satan. If you roll around with pigs, you’re going to get muddy. If you roll around with Satan, you’re going to smell like him. He will trick you and manipulate you. He is a liar and the father of lies, and he is incredibly vain. He wants nothing more than that you listen to him, until eventually he convinces you of his perverted teaching. So, Jesus desires to draw you as far away from Satan as He can. He doesn’t want the Canaanite woman to return swiftly home with a swept clean house, ready for seven more eviler spirits to rush in. He wants the woman to struggle with Him, not with Satan, so that when she returns home, her home is filled with God.

Christ did this to Jacob when He wrestled with him through the night. Although Christ punched out his hip joint, Jacob would not let go until Christ’s blessed Him. And so, He did. Though Jacob walked from then on with a limp, he earned the name Israel, which means, he strives with God. When we strive with Christ, He draws us closer to His cross and passion. Then we become familiar with his bloody sweat and wounds. We become acquainted with the weakness He endured for us. We become aware of our own weakness and dependency on Him. We become aware of our need for forgiveness. And we experience that forgiveness from Jesus Himself, who by His wounds atones for our sin. If you wrestle with Satan, he will deceive you and entangle you in his lies. If you wrestle with Christ, your faith will become stronger and cling fast to His promises. Jesus did not answer the woman, but He didn’t say, “No.”

The woman continued to cry out so that even Jesus’ disciples pleaded with Jesus to send her away if only to keep her from crying out after them. But Jesus responded, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This answer stung. The woman was a Canaanite, a Syrophoenician by birth. She was not a descendent of Israel, but rather of the nation whom God commanded the children of Israel to exterminate from the land He was giving them. Saying that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel sounded like a rejection of this Gentile woman, a refusal to help a non-Jew. Yet Jesus didn’t say, “No.”

St. Paul explains in Romans 9, “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” (vss. 6-8) This means that it is those of faith, who are true descendants of Israel, as Paul writes in Galatians 3, “So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” God swore to Jacob, whom He later named Israel after wrestling him, “In you and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 28:14) This means that in Christ Jesus, the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all families, that is, all the Gentiles will be blessed. One is not a sheep of the House of Israel by physical descent, but by faith in Christ.

Just as God did not say, “No,” to Jacob when He wrestled him before giving him the name Israel, so Jesus did not say, “No,” to this Canaanite woman when He said He was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Rather, Jesus wanted her to prove that she was such a sheep. And she proved it by continuing to wrestle with Christ. She proved herself to be a daughter of Israel, because she strove with the Godman Jesus. She kneels before Jesus in worship and says, “Lord, help me.” Just as Israel said, “I will not let go until You bless me.”

Yet Jesus strikes her with one more test, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Here, He implies that the Jews are the children of Israel, but that this Canaanite woman is just a dog. This seems to be a blow of defeat. How could this woman continue to persist in faith and prayer, when he calls her a dog? Yet, remarkably, she catches Jesus in His words and secures the win for herself, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Jesus implied that she was a dog, but He didn’t say no. The woman concludes, “If I’m a dog, give me what even a dog is due.”

And so, she teaches us an indispensable lesson. In Scripture, God regularly calls us something much worse than a dog. He calls us sinners. We have transgressed the commandments of God. This means that we have deserved death and hell (Romans 6:23). Psalm 1 states, “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” (vs. 5) It is the righteous children of God, who will sit at His table. But sinners may not sit at the Lord’s table with His children. It is not right to throw pearls before swine, as even Christ tells us.

Yet that is not a “no” either. What else does Scripture say to sinners? “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Jesus says, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:17). St. Paul is so bold to write by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1:15) So, we too can say to Christ, “You call me a sinner? Yes, indeed, I am a sinner. But you have come to save sinners!” And with such faith, you too receive forgiveness and help in every trial.

God caused this event to be recorded to give you comfort and encouragement in faith as you pray to God. Because God often behaves strangely to human eyes. He tells us, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you,” (Matthew 7:7-8) yet He often leaves us asking and seeking after Him with no answer, knocking until our knuckles are raw. If you do not know what God is doing, this can be beyond discouraging. But when you recognize that God is testing you to strengthen your faith to save you, then you can persevere with patience.

But it is not only persevering for persevering’s sake, but it is learning how to properly pray. Prayer is a response of faith. And faith comes from hearing God’s Word (Romans 10:17). How did this Canaanite woman finally defeat Jesus in her wrestling match? She caught Him in His word, as He wanted her to catch Him. He called her a dog, so she claimed the right of a dog. He calls us sinners, so we claim the right of sinners. When we pray to God, we must not be afraid to search His Word for answers. We may be hesitant, because Satan exhausts us or we fear that we will find Him telling us, “No.” But Jesus promises, “Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.” (John 16:23) You will not find God saying no to your prayer when you search Scripture. Rather, you will see that He promises to give all good things to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

God wrestles with us, so that we immerse ourselves deeper into His Word, so that we prick our ears to catch Him in His promises, as our sister-in-Christ did. The more you wrestle with God by listening to His Word, the more you are reminded of His promises to you, the more you will find reason to hope in Him. As our hymn encourages us:

Ponder all God’s truth can teach you,

Let His word your footsteps guide;

Satan’s wiles shall never reach you,

Though he draw the world aside.

Lo! God’s truth is thy defense,

Light, and hope, and confidence:

Trust in God, He’ll not deceive you,

Pray, and all your foes will leave you.

Amen.