Let Us Pray

What the exemplary fictitious widow learned from pleading her fake case to the pretend uncaring judge (Luke 18:1-8)…

Why pray when you can worry?  Jesus used the widow as the central figure because every listener knew that she had no ability to help herself out.  The worst thing that the judge would do would be to deny her request, which would land her where she was already.  When we pray, what are we out?  At the very least, prayer calms us down, focuses our attention, and provides an outlet for our stress.  Even if you think God isn’t real, prayer works for the one who prays.  Worrying, on the other hand, only leads to stomach problems.

Stalking helps you get to know a judge pretty well.  When we pray like a stalker, we get to know God much better than if we pray only very occasionally.  As with any relationship, the more time we spend with a person, the more familiar we become with them – how they communicate, their values, their ethos.  Spend more time with God and you are bound to get to know God better, which is the goal of faith.

Nobody knew to pay attention until I acted.  When we devote ourselves to something, others notice and sometimes join you.  You find out that you’re not alone, and that some care enough to come alongside and help.

Through the process I learned what I could do and what I couldn’t – something I would have never learned if I had chosen to be passive.  In other words, there was more to gain than the focus of my pleading.  Life is a process.  Challenges are catalysts for redemption.  The more we pray the more we learn where our limitations are, and discover how much we need help from God and others.

The routine, daily plea helped me get through the day.  Prayer is a form of meditation – focus on a particular thing.  Prayer is constructive and positive.  We don’t know how, exactly, but we do know that prayer works and the ritual of prayer at a minimum acts as a coping mechanism so that we can continue living.

There was a range of ways that justice could be served, so I didn’t get hung up only on what I could see.  Instead of praying as if we knew exactly what needs to happen, maybe we should pray for what we think, but stay open to whatever God has in mind.  I think we miss a lot of what God has for us along the way because we’re overly focused on what we think the answer to prayer should be.

Jesus said that God – in contrast to the unjust judge – would bring justice quickly.  What is justice?  What kind of justice will God bring, and how quick is quickly?  In one of his New Testament letters, Peter speaks about God’s timing being different than our own, but Jesus seemed to imply an immediate response when presented with persistent prayer.

If justice is making things right, but we live in a world where justice is an ongoing process managed by humanity, then what level of justice should we expect?  Perhaps we shouldn’t ask God to do what we can and should do.  And for the reality we all dread – dying and death – while we must pray for our hearts desire, we must also resign ourselves to the fact that we do not live in a perfect world, and things don’t always come out the way we hope and pray.  But while we struggle through those hard times, God is with us to give us strength and hope for tomorrow – a tomorrow where the pain of this life does not exist.   God therefore makes things as right as can be in our limited existence, while assuring us that a fuller justice is yet to come.

So pray for all the reasons the widow persisted.  And pray when it seems as though God is not quick, and when God seems indifferent to the wrong that needs made right.  Because it is in those moments when we experience God most powerfully, taking us to deeper depths and higher heights of God’s presence, where life is sourced from times passed through eternity to come.  Jesus’ brother, James, assures us that the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective, so keep praying, and be open to the power and effect of God more than your own limited thinking.

My dear friend, abandon yourself, and you will find me.  Give up your will and every title to yourself, and you will always come out ahead, for great grace will be you’re the moment you turn yourself over to me once and for all.  – From The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis

If we are to experience God, we must be open to God, to the mystical, to the divine, appearing in our lives.  And we must have an openness that is free of any preconditions about how that will happen.  Looking for God in a godly form is the great historical mistake.  – From In Pursuit of the Great White Rabbit by Edward Hays