Pray, Pray, Pray – Keep praying – have persistence in prayer – Trust in God – All will be well - It is what we always hear. Yet it sometimes seems that God is not answering … - Sometimes, it is something silly, why have I not yet won the lottery? – I have been praying every night for years to win the lottery – Then there are things far more severe – why is the cancer still here? keep praying, yet nothing seems to happen? Why does not God not listen?
We are not the first to have seen this mystery. It is not new. The Jewish people had been looking for salvation for a while – political salvation – to be freed from their oppressors. In 587 BC, they went into exile – since then, they have been conquered by one group after another. After the Babylonians, it was the Persians – then Alexander the Great, then Ptolemaic Empire, then the Seleucid Empire - At the time of Christ, it was the Romans.
Prayer for the freedom of God’s people from conquering empires – this seems like something important to ask for. It looks like something God should answer – yet it has unfulfilled for centuries. The Jewish people got freedom from one empire to just be conquered by another. Yet they pray – they hope – persistently, they constantly ask. Where is the answer? Why are they not yet free?
The unjust judge gave the widow the justice she sought because of her persistence. – An example of persistence in prayer and how we should keep asking – keep praying, even when things do not seem to go as we wish.
But God is not the unjust judge. – He is loving, merciful, and just – He knows what we need before we ask. “He will see to it that justice is done … speedily.” And why does God’s answer not seem to come? - … - There may be many reasons – I make no claims to be able to fully answer – but one reason comes forward. The request is not what is best, and God wants to give something greater. – have patience, trust, have faith.
Israel was asking for political freedom from imperial powers – Yet God wanted to bring the kingdom of God and forgiveness of sins. - In fact, it is not clear that being free from imperial powers would have actually helped in their salvation – in the Old Testament, whenever they were free from outside pressure, the Israelites abandoned God, thinking they could go on their own. – Yet they only found suffering, defeat, death, and destruction on their own. – Is it really for their good not to have the political power they desired.
Instead – God sent his only son – God became man, pulling all to himself, dying on the cross, - opening the gates of heaven - Bringing the kingdom of God into the world – not seeking to bring political freedom, but to bring salvation – opening the gates of heaven – God is not the unjust judge only answer to persistent badgering – instead, he has responded to their prayers with something far more than could be imagined. – He might not have given what was requested, but – For God knew the needs of Israel far more than the Jewish people themselves – and gave far more than was requested, even if in an unexpected way.
This is not to say that Israel should have stopped praying just because God knows better. After all, Ask any parent of a young child. The parent usually knows what the child needs, yet they teach their child to ask.
The Israelites - by their prayer, they looked to God – such that some just might recognize God – the number that recognized Christ might have been few, but they were not zero –the Son of Man did find faith on earth, even if it was only a little. And while God did not give what was requested – political freedom - through Christ – God gave something far beyond their request – the kingdom of God, the world’s salvation. Faith and focus on God were maintained through persistent prayer, even for the wrong thing.
Is persistent prayer to convince God to do what is right? No! God already knows – he is just, merciful, and loving. “he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.” But our persistence in prayer draws us to God! By persistent prayer, we are looking – so that when God gives what is good – that which leads to our salvation, we might see, hear, and respond - that “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth.”
And what of our prayers? Whether silly, such as to win the lottery, or more serious – a cancer diagnosis? – Why does God not do as we request? I cannot give an answer; I do not know. Yet one thing can be said – that God is not the unjust judge – “he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.” – but our understanding of what we need may be lacking – Israel asked for political freedom, God instead gave the salvation of the world and forgiveness of sins.
The lottery might seem great – yet how many horror stories are there of families destroyed when someone wins the lottery? Or people who waste it all and end up broke? – perhaps the lottery is not good for us. - And cancer? It is not good, we do not want it – I cannot give an answer why – yet sometimes it is the evil that makes us focus on the good – make the most of family – turn to God and repent – just maybe, God wants something more significant than physical health for us. – No matter what, let us ask him in prayer, focusing on God and trusting him.
Yet we should maintain persistence in prayer – that we remain focused on God – constantly asking – not that we will change God’s mind - but asking such that when God acts, we can recognize it – God never tires of hearing his faithful ask – And through our persistent prayers, we maintain our faith – even if we are asking for the wrong things – but in faith, we ask – knowing that our heavenly father “will see to it that justice is done for them speedily” – and in our prayer that “the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”