The other day I was reading my devotions and I became offended. To the point of tears offended. I was reading in Matthew 15 about the Gentile woman who asked Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter.

At first, Jesus just ignored her when she asked him to heal her daughter. Then his disciples came and told him to get rid of her.

He addressed her at this time. He said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

This amazing woman did not stop there. She worshipped him. Then she pleaded with him saying. “Lord, help me!”

He once again countered and said. “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

I stopped for a moment and shed a few tears. I am not a Jew, I am a Gentile and I don’t particularly like being called a little dog. Yet I persisted on. As did the woman who had the demon-possessed daughter.

She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

At this point, Jesus said, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And from that point on her daughter was healed.

I read this story and got stuck on being called a little dog. Yet I kept persisting on with my reading. Soon I happened upon a verse which has befuddled me for all of my life. That verse is Matthew 16:19 Jesus was talking with Peter when he said. “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose in earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Okay, I will be honest, now I was not only offended but also confused. I don’t like being offended or confused so I kept digging. For understanding, I read the commentary in my Study Bible and it directed me to Acts 10. In Acts 10 Peter had received a vision which gave him permission to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. I believe that this is what Jesus was referring to when he told Peter he would give him the keys to heaven.

So in one devotional, I went from being called a little dog to being a child of the highest God. If that doesn’t make your head big I don’t know what will. lol