Everybody, what is going on? You know what time it is. You're listening to Join the Journey podcast with your host, Emma, daughter.

Thanks for joining. Ever wonder what's up with the Jewish people, the Israelites? Why were they chosen? And where do they fit into the New Testament story?

In today's devotional, which you can access by visiting join the journey.com,

Shea talked about how Jesus is after the heart behind our habits. It's heart transformation,

not behavior modification. Her divo is excellent, but since there's just so much to cover in

Matthew 15, I want you to turn your attention to verses 22 through 28, where we read

about the faith of the Canaanite woman. Sometimes we have trouble understanding how all the different

people groups and the Bible fit together. Who are the Canaanites, the Jews, and the Gentiles?

How do they all relate to one another and where do we fit in? Even if you're very well studied, it can be easy to get mixed up, and today's passage is actually helpful.

Starting in Matthew 1522, we read, and behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying.

Have mercy on me, oh Lord, son of David, my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

Pay attention to that word, behold. Any time we encounter the word behold, we should circle it.

It's saying, look, pay attention, notice something. And what do we notice? The woman approaching Jesus

was a Canaanite. That means she came from a long family

tree made up of Israel's enemies. But she refers to Jesus as Lord, son of David, which signals to us

that she believes Jesus to be the son of God. She recognizes Jesus as the promised king who would

sit on David's throne forever. And you can read more

about that in 2 Samuel 7. But we keep reading, 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. So this is really

interesting. This woman clearly knows who Jesus is and is in need of help,

but Jesus doesn't respond. And the woman persists and is asking for help, which seems to

annoy the disciples. But eventually Jesus relents and says to the woman. He answered,

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