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Help from the blogosphere
By Jeremy | November 2, 2006
I just read your post "sometimes I feel like this widow" on Away With Words. I was wondering if I could ask you a question.... Everytime I read this parable I feel like I'm missing something. Is Jesus saying that I have to badger God to get my prayer answered? Is God kind of making a deal with me - he'll give me what I want if I just keep at it long enough? How long is long enough - to a God who lives in eternity? Do I run the risk of wearying God - or ticking him off? He's answering my prayer not because he loves me but to shut me up? I really don't get this story at all - and I really struggle with this. The only way I can make sense of this is that it seems like Jesus is saying, 'you might have to badger a human judge to get justice in this world, but you don't have to badger God - he's ready to jump on your request.' But nobody ever explains this parable this way, so I don't know what to think. I know you've got a family at home, and a full time ministry, and that you're a busy guy. If you don't respond to this email I'll understand. It's just that you seem to be thinking about this parable right now too, and I was wondering if you might have some wisdom for me...My response:
It's funny but your questions resonate so well with alot of the same issues I've been questioning. I've been dealing with a personal issue for some time now and it's draining, frustrating, and easy to want simply to walk away. But I think one of the points in the parable, and in many other Biblical passages that deal with similar issues is not that God is taunting us by requiring perseverence. (Why did Abraham have to wait until he was 99 before his promised son was born? Why did the exiles have to live in Babylon for 70+ years before deliverance? Why a 40 year wilderness experience for the freed Egyptian slaves? Why a prolonged cave experience for David before becoming king? Why force Joseph to be sold as a slave, wrongly imprisoned, etc for several decades before the realization of his dreams? Why did Jesus have to wait 30 years before beginning his ministry? Why did Jesus wait until the fourth day before resurrecting Lazarus? Why does Paul write about "pressing on towards the prize," Peter talk about pereseverance, James encourage us to rejoice when tested, and Jesus himself call us blessed for suffering?) Instead, I think, he's allowing stuff in us to be worked out during the journey to justice. Partly that happens not by coming to God every day making the same requests over and over -- which, frankly, is kind of like how a whiny kid acts during a tantrum -- but by choosing to trust that God's word is true regardless of apparently unchanged circumstances. It's almost like he invites us to ask him, then trust that we will see evidence of answered prayer in His time, not ours. In the the intervening period, it's our option to choose to believe His timeless word rather than our temporal circumstances. I don't know if this makes sense ... I'm still processing through it myself. Do you mind if I post these emails and invite other feedback?His response:
You said, "it's our option to choose to believe His timeless word rather than our temporal circumstances." That really spoke to me and where I'm at. Thank you - I really appreciate this. I'd be okay with putting this up on Away With Words and inviting some feedback. There must be others who have gone down this road also.So our joint appeal to anyone who's a bit further down the road than we are: any insights and wisdom you can share?
Topics: faith, perseverance, prayer | 1 Comment »
November 3rd, 2006 at 1:28 pm
“Partly that happens not by coming to God every day making the same requests over and over  which, frankly, is kind of like how a whiny kid acts during a tantrum  but by choosing to trust that God’s word is true regardless of apparently unchanged circumstances.â€Â
What I have come to learn in my spiritual journey as that every time I talk to God and submit my request I just ask once. I don’t feel like I have to keep asking and asking. I try to express my heart to Him and believe that he will do it. If he doesn’t, I am learning to just wait.
But maybe I should be a bit more persistent.