Prayers And Potholes

Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1-8, NASB)

There is a home I pass by from time to time. Directly in front of that home, a portion of the sidewalk is grooved and worn. It is the evidence of years, or perhaps decades, of its metal entry gate scraping the sidewalk. As I walked past the house today, a thought came to me: If the homeowners had only made one attempt to open the gate, then no one would have known that the gate was positioned to create such a marked depression in the sidewalk.

There are potholes on Pelham Parkway (a major thoroughfare in the Bronx). The weight of thousands of cars and buses riding over the same area every day, compounded over time, causes the road to dip and chip under the accumulated pressure.

Jesus, during His earthly ministry, shared a parable. The parable concerned an unjust judge, who feared neither God nor man (see Luke 18:2), and a woman who made regular appeals to the judge for vindication (see Luke 18:3). At the end of the parable, Jesus notes the response of the judge: 'I will grant this woman’s appeal so that she doesn't wear me out.' (see Luke 18:5)

I wonder if, when we think God hasn’t answered a particular prayer, we may have in actuality given up on a prayer that was in the process of being answered, but was not yet at a point where we could clearly see the dent our prayers had made. Some of the situations we face are, indeed, as tough as concrete. These difficult cases require time and the steady application of spiritual pressure through prayer.

Our prayers, on the first attempt, may seem to have zero effect on the situation being prayed about. In fact, things may seem to get worse. But though the first attempt may seem to have no impact, don’t be fooled. There is an impression being made, a breaking-up of seemingly impenetrable ground. It may take months, or years, but at some point the cumulative effect of our prayers will be visible and measurable. Like the widow in the parable, we are called to come back to the place of prayer day after day, asking the same petition, without wavering. 

“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.”  (Luke 18:1)

Don't lose heart. God will answer. Keep praying, friends. 

In the Fibers

I went out for a stroll during my lunch break today, taking a few minutes to browse in different stores. A carpet store had a small rug on display outside, with a reasonable price posted, so I decided to step into the store to see what else they offered.

That's when it hit me... the smell of cigarette smoke.

The shopkeeper had been smoking in the back office, apparently as a matter of course, and the smell had permeated the entire store. The fibers of all those carpets and rugs had absorbed the odor. I wondered how many sales opportunities had been missed: the merchandise was beautiful to look at, but any customer who was not a smoker would probably opt to buy a fresher-smelling product elsewhere.

As Christians, we carry a fragrance as well. The apostle Paul wrote:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. (Second Corinthians 2:14, NASB)

My prayer is that each of us will be found carrying the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ.

Open the door to my soul;
Find there love and compassion,
Action matching confession.
Each fiber of my being,
Sing the fragrance of the King.
Lord Christ, save and keep me whole.

What's in the fibers of your faith-walk?

We Know... We Grow.

"But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land," says the LORD. "I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people. People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me," says the LORD. "For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done." (Jeremiah 31:33-34, NET Bible)

As we read these verses today, we can consider our own spiritual walk. We can reflect on the reality of God having planted into the hearts of all people the knowledge of His laws, His desires, His sovereignty, and His love. Even the soul who claims to be atheist will invariably claim a sensing of what is right or wrong, what is fair or unfair, what is deserved or undeserved. Who is it that has planted this sense of moral rectitude into our hearts, independent of our making a confession or knowing a creed? It is God. God has helped us in a way that we could never have helped ourselves. To paraphrase Jeremiah’s prophecy, the blueprint of God is etched, by God Himself, into our hearts.

So, we know. And, as an outflow of our knowing, some of us desire to grow. We want to mature in our faith-walk so that we aren’t only knowledgeable of God’s law, but that we believe and obey God’s law. We want to live as joy-filled reflections of His character, His grace, and His love, so that people can see the evidence of what their hearts already know. It’s not always easy to do so in a world that peddles violence and self-preservation as the commodities of the day. But if we are rooted and growing in God, then we will have the strength to display His truths, withstanding the pressures that the world sends our way.

Lord God, we are grateful that You have written Your law into our hearts and minds. We want to look more and more like You every day! We are planted in Your word, and we ask You to care for us so that we will grow in wisdom, grace, mercy, and love. We ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.