Did you ever try to help someone out but only to find that your help really wasn't appreciated? The disciples seemed to be caught in such a tug-of-war. Here they were trying to help out Jesus, but He just wouldn't cooperate! Jesus was the one who wanted to get away. He went faraway into another country called Tyre. He is the One who told everyone to don't tell anyone about where He was staying. He wanted to be quiet. A kind of vacation or retreat. A time to be spiritually close to God. He wanted to be alone with the disciples. However, as in real life, Jesus found these planned retreats can be rudely interrupted.

This morning I remember having a siege on my office. My office is at home so it perhaps is more prone to invasions than the average office building. But neither is impenetrable from distractions. One person requested this. I kindly asked them to close the door and not disturb me. Another person came with the same question. This happened several times more. Then there was one of these children's song/story being played too loud. I asked them to kindly turn it down and close their door for I was studying. Even the little 2 year-old joined in. He didn't know he wasn't to push the door open because Daddy was concentrating hard.

After this went on for about fifteen minutes (I was surprised how much I really got done!), I just finally wedged my study chair against the door. I became desperate for some privacy! The next person came by and pushed the door hard causing the chair to slide from its place just a bit. After noticing the chair there, he regressed rather quickly. He had never seen their Dad so desperate as to place a big chair against the door!

Jesus was in this Canaanite land to find quietness. His healing ministry caused a great commotion wherever He went in Israel. The religious leaders were beginning to get antagonistic and show their resistance to the God they pledged to love. But no matter why Jesus was there, He always did His Father's will. His disciples were less slow to learn it.

We should first complement this woman on her faith. No matter how many obstacles in her way, she persisted. Though the disciples were not being helpful here - "Send her away!" We see Jesus was none too cooperative either. But it is here we see a great difference between the disciples and Jesus. The disciples took the smaller goal of being alone and made it their primary goal. They became blind to God's larger will. Even if God had them go so far away to actually meet someone's special need, they could not see this.

Jesus on the other hand was playing it out. He knew His goal was to be alone and refreshed. He was to have private time with His disciples, but He always wanted to do the Father's will even at His great inconvenience. I'm not trying to say that this was hard or easy for Jesus. He could easily have healed this woman's afflicted daughter, but when one gets away, enters a relaxation mode and begins to unwind a bit, even good things can be harder than usual to do.

I suppose it is like a person having their eyes narrowly focused through his binoculars but needs to wait for a minute for his eyes to adjust. How did Jesus test whether this was a real need from the Father for Him to attend to or just another disruption from the evil one? Jesus responded four times to the woman's persistent pleading.

I recently heard a testimony on discerning God's will. This man, Bruce, had a full schedule. At a meeting he met with a few representatives from South Africa. They asked him to develop some material on AIDS. Bruce quickly and simply said, "No." He knew he was far too busy but anyway this task did not fit into the ministry God had given him. He knew these guys would go back and tell others to pray.

They met again the next year. They again asked him whether he would do it. They said that they knew he was the right person for it. But again Bruce, a bit more reflective this time, paused and affirmed that this was not what God was calling him to do. This was not the ministry God had given to him. They again said that they would pray. Bruce knew they would. He was confident, however, that this was outside God's purpose for him.

The next year they again met, and they again asked him. He was already to say 'no' to these guys again, but this time was different. Once they spoke of the project and need, something happened. He began weeping. A great unexpected and deep compassion for these people filled his heart. He knew that God had called him to develop these materials even though it was outside his normal focus of ministry. God greatly helped him develop the materials in spite of his heavy load.