One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’””
Luke 18:1-5 NLT
Persistence. To be honest I always thought this was the story of a nag. But when you look at it Jesus uses it as an example of persistence. Having kids I have a new appreciation for it. Last year for Christmas Eli and Silas were going to drive us nuts with their Christmas lists. (as I’m sure I did with my parents). Every day it changed. One day it would be a police car, next a fire truck, next legos, and yet trains the day after that. How as a parent are you supposed to know what mood they will wake up in on Christmas Day. Either you will be the hero or you will get, “dad, I didn’t want that.” The one thing that was consistent thought was that Eli wanted a double decker bus. (Or in his words a 2 by 2 bus). We knew above all else he wanted that bus because it was his consistent day in, day out request. Consistency. Persistence.
What if that is what Jesus is teaching us? How many of us our prayers change by the day? Praying for this job, then next day hating that job. One day praying for God’s provision, then the next being upset with how He provided. Praying for a certain relationship, then the next wanting out of it. As humans we are totally like waves tossed here and there in our prayers. Can you imagine being God going, “I have no clue what your praying for.”
I know it might seem like you are nagging God when day in and day out you are praying for the same thing. At times feeling like you aren’t getting an answer. What if He is teaching you in that moment not to give up, to be persistent in making your requests known?
Luckily we serve a God who knows our hearts and what we are asking for even when it is just groans according to Romans 8.
“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”
Romans 8:26-27 NLT
