This Is My Story 3 – When Persistence Pays Off
Prayer is one of those things about faith that always makes me ask some questions. How long do I have to pray? Does it matter if I close my eyes when I pray? Should I kneel? Hands folded or lifted up? How long does it take to get an answer?
That is the big one. When is the answer coming? Will it the answer I want or the one I need? There have been so many books and thoughts on prayer that it seems kind of crazy to be writing one more thing about prayer. Though there have been several things written I am just dumb enough to write one more. Jesus tells a story about a widow and a judge. Luke tells us the story is about prayer. Maybe we can be encouraged to pray more or differently from this story.
Then Jesus used this story to teach his followers that they should always pray and never lose hope. “In a certain town there was a judge who did not respect God or care about people. In that same town there was a widow who kept coming to this judge, saying, ’Give me my rights against my enemy.’ For a while the judge refused to help her. But afterwards, he thought to himself, ’Even though I don’t respect God or care about people, I will see that she gets her rights. Otherwise she will continue to bother me until I am worn out.’” The Lord said, “Listen to what the unfair judge said. God will always give what is right to his people who cry to him night and day, and he will not be slow to answer them. I tell you, God will help his people quickly. But when the Son of Man comes again, will he find those on earth who believe in him?” Luke 18:1-8 (NCV)
The judge answers the widow’s cries because he gets tired of her bugging him. She comes before every day and begs him to take care of her. She is persistent and will not give up her pursuit of justice. He gives in to her not because her case is right; but because he is tired of seeing her. Luke says that is what prayer is like with God. I have been taught that if you just keep praying that eventually you can bend God to your will. I am not really sure if that is how it works. I mean it sort of sounds good doesn’t it? We can have God bend to our will and do what we want? Maybe we should talk more about who we think we are praying to instead of what we are praying for.
An Unjust Judge Will Cost You
An unjust judge will wanted to be bribed. I mean in those days it was the priests who were judges and they could be bribed. In fact it was an expected thing in those days. Of course I cannot say I haven’t tried to bribe God. I just wonder how much stuff I’ve promised to stop or start doing in my life if he would just make a situation turn my way. The problem with bribing someone is that with each bribe the price gets a little higher. So, what can we offer this time to get what we want or need from God?
An unjust judge loves for you to beg them. Get down on your knees and pour your heart out. Yep, tears really will move things along. Keep begging and maybe the judge will give in. The sadder your story the more chance you have that he will listen. The problem with begging someone for something is that eventually you begin to resent them for making you beg. You begin to doubt their love and heart for you. It is hard not to resent the person that makes us beg for their help. After a while we will probably just want to struggle alone than beg for help.
An unjust judge wants you to buy their favor. Offer them your soul to get what you need. Always remember that a favor is really never repaid. There is always the memory of the favor done and you will never be able to pay it back. When we are bought by someone we become their whipping boy. They can call the debt due at anytime and expect you to repay it right away. When someone owns us we are never truly free or able to help ourselves.
God is no Unjust Judge
As a kid and throughout my life I have seen God as this unjust judge in the story. I think we mess when we stop just at the story and don’t look for Jesus meaning. He wanted the people listening to him to realize that the old way of doing things was coming to an end. No more begging, bribing or being owned. The judge would now be God and He would listen to the prayers of His followers.
After all how do you bribe someone who already has all he needs? He is not looking to trade answers for deals. There is no wheel to spin to get a magic answer. You see what Jesus says about the answer God gives us. He says that God will give what is right to His children. Maybe not what we want, but what is right. That is why we don’t beg or bribe Him. Instead we give our prayers to Him and wait for what is right for us.
That means that at times the answer may be not what we want or expect but what is good for us. Rick Warren said “God is more concerned with your character than your comfort.” Those words sting a little, don’t they. So when we realize that God will grow our faith and our character through answered prayers and those answers shape who we become. So we need to join with him, not fight against him when we pray. After all, he truly does want what is best for our lives. So trust the one you pray to. He is not unjust, but just loves us enough to give the answer we need.