Genesis 32:22-31, Luke 18:1-8
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Prayer is central to our lives as Christians. And yet, how often is it that we pray, often the same prayers over and again, without receiving an answer, or without the thing that we prayed for coming into our possession? As a pastor, as a Christian, I pray very often for healing; I pray also for the wellbeing of family and friends; I pray for you and I even pray for people I don’t like. I sometimes pray that I may find success and I sometimes pray for things. I pray for our church that it will continue its strong ministry. I often pray for our political leaders that they will finally do and do well the jobs that they were elected to do and so I pray for our government and the governments of other nations that they will do what is best for all people. And (I’m assuming like you) I wonder, why? Why isn’t God answering all my prayers? I think they’re good prayers; most of my prayers are not exactly self-serving, they have other people’s welfare in mind and also Jesus’ church in mind. How much (I wonder) can I continue to pray the same prayers seeing little response from God. It just doesn’t seem like it should be so hard and take so long for God to answer my simple prayers.
And then, today, we have the story in Genesis, a story about Jacob wrestling with God, Jacob in prayer. But you ask, where, in all that story was he praying? My answer, what better way to describe prayer than a wrestling with God? Jacob was hopeful, a little hopeful that he could mend his relationship with his brother, but he was also afraid of meeting up with his brother; he had not been good to his brother. He was so afraid that he sent his family and all his possessions across the stream and away from him to a place where they may be safe? Jacob wanted God’s help, God’s forgiveness and God’s blessing. But God wasn’t going to make it easy. Jacob had been a deceiver of his brother and father in law, (though his brother was easily deceived and his father in law was getting a bit of what he deserved). Prayer is not always easy, and we see here that there can a price that we may need to pay. Jacob wrestled with God; all night he wrestled with God and for his efforts, his persistence, he received a permanent limp. But he also received God’s blessing, and the next day things were resolved with his brother and he was able to live in peace, he and his family, and he prospered with a new name, the name that would become the name of a great nation, Israel. God was, through Jacob, now Israel, beginning to fulfill God’s promise made to Abraham, as God answered Jacob’s prayers. Persistence in prayer may be considered our lesson for this morning.
Jesus, in his strange parable of the unjust judge also spoke both of prayer and persistence. This story is about two somewhat unlikable characters, an unjust judge and a persistent, or one might say, “nagging” women. But the message is similar to that of the Genesis story, as she was persistent like Jacob, we are to be persistent in prayer. I understand that persistence is a good thing, still, why would God want to put us through such struggle. My son Paul was a persistent child; when he wanted something, whether attention or a thing, he would stand there, dad, dad, dad, dad, or with my wife mom, mom, mom, until he either got yelled at or he got what he wanted or both. He was persistent with a capital “P”. Cathy tells the story of when she took Paul to a “Take your child to work day.” at one point he was either bored or needed to go to the bathroom, and he started, mom, mom, mom, mom, but Cathy was near the end of putting together a project on her computer and was trying to finish before turning to Paul; well, Paul young as was, not yet in school, knew what to do; he switched off Cathy’s computer. He survived, he got yelled at and he got what he wanted. A coworker of Cathy’s remarked, he was surprised to see Paul come out of the bathroom alive.
Why would God want to put up with such persistence? But that’s not the point; God is better than us and certainly better than the unjust judge.
So, again why must we be persistent in prayer? God sees us as his children. I think of my kids and now grandkids and how what they want one day they often forget about the next day, making the point that sometimes their want is just a whim. God may very well be watching to see how much we really want what we are asking for. There may be other instances where God hears our request and feels that it would not be good for us or those we pray for, or sees the opportunity for a learning, in our waiting or has a better idea for us. We need to remember that God is not a wish machine, giving out whatever we ask for; God, like a good parent knows when to say “no”, God has our best interest at heart even when we do not.
Prayer is simple, how God answers our prayer is complicated. I wonder sometimes whether the issue of God not answering our prayer is about our not listening to the answer. I remember as a kid only wanting to hear the answer that I wanted. And maybe it is a matter of our lack of trust. We don’t trust that God will answer our prayers so God doesn’t answer them. Faith in God is at the heart of our relationship with God and trust is a big part of faith. I can’t tell you that every prayer that you pray will be answered, at least I can’t guarantee that your prayers will all be answered as you may want, but I can tell you to be persistent and have faith, that God will see that what is best for you and the world around you will take place. Don’t stop praying; and remember to, in your prayers, to thank the Lord for all the good you now enjoy and say thank you even for the challenges and that you find your way through them (with God’s help).