By Guest Columnist Spencer Sullivan, Pastor, Pelahatchie Baptist
Prayer is the avenue that actually enables us to speak and communicate with God. What an amazing gift! Have you ever considered that? At any time, in any moment, we have the opportunity to speak to the Almighty God Himself. And the Bible tells us that when we pray…He hears us (Daniel 9). That is an astonishing truth! So, what has been your experience with prayer? Have you experienced God answering in ways that only He can? Or at times, do you feel like your prayers just aren’t getting through, like a phone call with bad cell service? If you have spent significant time in prayer, you’ve probably experienced both extremes.
Over the last few months, I have written in this space about a few of Jesus’ parables that are recorded in the Gospels. When Jesus shared a parable, there was always a spiritual lesson to be learned. Whatever the primary lesson is, Jesus’ parables also give us a greater understanding of what God is like. In Luke 18, the Gospel writer, Luke, actually reveals to his audience the primary lesson of the parable that he was about to record. In verse 1, he wrote: “And He (Jesus) told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
The ensuing parable is recorded in Luke 18:2-8 and I encourage you to take a moment to read it. Injustice is a hot topic in our world today, however, this isn’t a new problem under the sun. Jesus’ parables always included culturally relevant settings. Sadly, this parable presented the cultural reality that there were corrupt local judges. In the parable, the judge actually self-declared that he “neither feared God nor respected man.” This was evident as the other main character in the parable, a widow, was repeatedly denied justice by this unrighteous judge. But, the judge’s failure to take his job seriously and do it competently and justly did not dissuade the widow from continuing to seek justice. She kept coming to him over and over and over again. She was relentless in her pursuit and one day the unrighteous judge realized that she would never stop coming until he gave her the justice she was due. He said: “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.” The widow’s relentless pursuit led to her receiving the justice she was seeking. After sharing this short but powerful story, Jesus unveiled the primary lesson He was communicating. He said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily.”
As a parent, when my children were much younger, I can remember times when they would request something over and over and over again, especially if my answer was ‘maybe later’ or ‘not right now’. That would never be enough. They would continue to make their petition without stopping. Eventually, I would say something like: “If you ask me one more time, the answer is absolutely ‘no’!” Can any of you relate? In the parable, God is contrasted with the unrighteous judge. Yet, clearly, they are nothing alike. The unrighteous judge only responded to the widow because of her relentless pressure. But, what Jesus is saying is that God actually desires that we come to Him repeatedly in prayer and that He will answer. He’s not annoyed or bothered by our crying out day and night! He actually wants us to continue! In Matthew 7:7, He instructs His people: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” God actually teaches us to ask, seek, and knock. At the same time, God is not some genie in a bottle where we just send Him our wishes and expect Him to give us anything we want! He always hears us when we pray. And He answers us according to His perfect will, both for His glory and our good. So I encourage you to always pray…and not lose heart!
Comment
Comments