We have become experts at covering up our neediness. Our instant response is to say, “I’m good.”

Because we are supposed to, right?

We say things like…

I’m fine.

I don’t need anything.

I’ll call you if I need something.

A majority of us have a hard time asking for help or admitting that we have a need; we’ve bought into that lie that says we are supposed to be able to do it all. We edge out room for others to be the hands and feet of Jesus because the outline of shame around us whispers that our weakness is wasteful. But, I think what we aren’t doing or saying when we are weak is what is truly wasteful.

I have been thinking about the woman pleading for her daughter and about how most of the time we are so slow to ask for help for ourselvesI. But when it comes to our children, or our loved ones, we lay down our pride and the shame of being needy for the hope of something in the supernatural. I recalled the exchange of words between a gutsy woman and Jesus, and the disciples who just thought she was a nuisance and wanted to dismiss her.

Coming to Jesus needy and empty-handed was the catalyst for her miracle.

21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.[a] (Matt 15:12-28 ESV)

We are so desperate for something real that we will take the crumbs falling from another woman’s table because we don’t think we are worthy of a full meal and unleashed blessings from God. Shame and perfection has become our Kryptonite and coming to church admitting that we are needy has become ridiculously taboo.

We are so afraid of our small offerings. Yet in this case, a needy woman ready for crumbs was more than enough to stop Jesus in his tracks to praise her faith and grant her desire. He even had time to give the disciples a verbal spanking and a lesson on what reaching lost sheep looks like. It doesn’t look like having it all together; it looks like praise and a soul-satisfied, spirit-fed faith.

One gutsy woman wasn’t afraid to admit that her life was a wreck and that things weren’t okay in her little world. She went to Jesus with expectation and desperation and walked away with a miracle.

I don’t know what you need from God right now, but I know that God will not waste your neediness.

Much love,

Jennifer