Praying With Humble Determination

Two illustrations on prayer

The woman’s strongest example to us is her determined faith. She did not sit and theorize about hope, but actively pursued it. She didn’t write a devotional each morning. She got up, got dressed, and pursued the thing. This is not easy.

Sometimes life is such that we do all the right things and the right results just don’t come. This woman does not give up the first many times for such a lack of results. She keeps going.

I realize this is “just” a parable, but Jesus is using her to tell his disciples something.

There are individuals like this today - women and men who persist in their efforts for justice for themselves, their children, their loved ones. They seem to be fewer among those of us who are afforded most of the comforts of life. But to those who receive less, there is this kind of persistence.

Coupled with the second illustration, we arrive at a prayer that is determined but humbly honest. It’s not a performance of righteousness, but a recognition of need. The tax collector is not confident in himself or his ability to pray, but rather a trust that God hears. It is this kind of prayer - persistent and honest - that seems to move the heart of God.

Luke 18:1-14

Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”

Jesus told this parable to certain people who had convinced themselves that they were righteous and who looked on everyone else with disgust: “Two people went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself with these words, ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like everyone else—crooks, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I receive.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to look toward heaven. Rather, he struck his chest and said, ‘God, show mercy to me, a sinner.’ I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”

Prayer

God,

So you really do listen to intercessory prayer? The Bible tells me so. Whether it’s Abraham’s prayer for the cities, Hezekiah’s prayer for Jerusalem and his own life, or Peter’s healing of the beggar at the Gate Beautiful, we are told that you change things if we ask.

Even Jesus said so.

But how do you choose, God? Why do so many prayers - and many that are right and just - go unanswered? I, like many, try to tell myself that you see a bigger picture, but honestly, sometimes that feels like excuse-making. I actually feel much more comfortable saying, “I don’t know why. It doesn’t make sense.” If I’m even more honest…sometimes I wonder if it means you don’t answer prayer in such a way. Again, I’m just being honest.

In the end, I know I am not you. I have neither the power nor the wisdom to change all that much. And that’s why I want to cry out to you.

So I will continue to do so. Give me the faith.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.