Go Ahead. Wear God Out with Your Prayers. ~ Luke 18:1-8 ~ Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

My life of prayer began beneath this picture that hung on the wall of my bedroom since the day I was born.  From the time I could speak, my parents would kneel with me at my bedside while I said my bedtime prayers.

I love images of prayer like this one—because they illustrate the beautiful gift of peace that God gives us when we pray.  Prayer is the gift of peaceful communion with God.  It is such peace that we are to pursue with prayer; “the peace that passes understanding.” 

But much of the time, our prayers will not begin with such peace.  Many of our prayers will begin in anguish.  Our heads will be pounding with stress; our hearts stinging with sorrow; our bodies worn and weary.  We cry out to God with the weight of the world on our shoulders, if only that God would come and take all the hurt away.  But is this what happens when we say “amen?”

Consider for a moment Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives before his crucifixion…  Luke writes that “in his anguish…his sweat became like great drops of blood falling on the ground.”  His disciples couldn’t even stay awake because of their grief.

And then there’s this parable about a widow who’s pleading for justice from the city judge…

In Jesus’ day, people generally didn’t do much to take care of widows.  With their husbands dead, they had little means to support themselves and their children.  Unless their parents or their husbands’ families had the means to care for them (and were kind enough to do so), they’d be beggars for the rest of their lives.  They’d also be an easy target for scoundrels—as this particular widow bad become…

So she goes to the judge and begs him for justice.  Time and time again he refuses; but time and time again she returns.  And finally, he grants her justice—just to shut her up…

Jesus teaches us that we are to be that persistent in our praying.  The reason why, is that God will seem not unlike the judge—as cruel and uncaring when we do not receive the answers we’re expecting. 

We cannot ignore the fact that there is a very real danger for all of us to lose heart in our faith and trust in God—especially considering the times we’re living in right now. 

Just consider our community: how many steel mills have closed and the businesses that have vanished.  Think of how many families who can’t make ends meet.  Many of us who’ve been in this church can remember when this sanctuary was packed and not like it is now. 

There’s the people in our lives that are so precious to us that have departed this life and now we must go on without them. 

How can someone not lose heart when things are already bad—and they get even worse?  Why bother to pray at all?  How can you really believe in the power of prayer when the answers don’t come?

It is in times like these where we have no choice but to surrender—but to what?  To hopelessness?  Or, do we surrender to God?

The first miracle of prayer—is that God gives you the faith to pray.  Prayer is an act of surrender.  We pray because there is no one else; there is nothing else upon which we can rely.  We pray because we are powerless against Satan and chaos.  We pray because we can’t make it on our own.  When we can’t—God can…

When you give up trying to fight that which is bigger than you and that you cannot control, God takes over.  God will give you faith by which you will begin to see what God is doing: God is destroying death, eradicating evil and injustice; bringing peace and healing and new life to the world.  And God is taking care of you personally.  You will be okay.  We can’t necessarily pray our troubles away, but we can be at peace as we see by faith what God is doing. 

Furthermore, God will act in your prayers to draw you into God’s saving work for all the world.  The Holy Spirit will transform you into an angel of God’s compassion, mercy, and healing.  You will literally become the answer to someone else’s prayers as God answers yours.  God will form you into the faith of Christ, the love of Christ, and the hope of Christ.

One thing is certain—prayer will often be a wrestling match with God.  When times are tough, there will always be the temptation to give up on prayer; on church; on doing good—and even God.   But your life is a gift from God—so why should you lose it to what is terrible since you can pray?

If you spend more time worrying and weeping about what is, make today the day you turn the tables against fear.  Let that perfect peace with God be the goal you pursue in every prayer—because we will have to wait, sometimes a long time, for God to make right what is wrong.  But pray fervently for that perfect peace with God.  Go ahead and wear God out with your praying.  And always remember: we don’t pray to get God to do things for us.  We pray because of what God is doing for us.  So bring before God what hurts the most today.  Be drawn into God’s presence.  Pray because you believe God will overcome, and by grace, you will too…