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Always Pray and Don’t Give Up
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Psalm 121 & Luke 18.1-8
How often does it seem as though our prayers are futile? Difficult times come; we pray for relief; it seems God does not hear; it seems his promises are empty. These are the realities presented to us in our Lectionary readings today. Jesus tells his disciples that “they should pray and not give up,” then tells them a parable in which a widow goes to an evil judge who is unwilling to take up her case. Over and again, she approaches the judge. She does not give up. Finally, realizing she’s not going to stop bothering him, he relents and takes up her case. Jesus then draws a parallel between the evil judge and God, and though it’s a strange one, it’s clear that though it may seem as though God is not listening, in the end, he answers prayer. The same can be seen in Psalm 121. The Psalm seems to say that God won’t let bad things happen to us: “The Lord watches over you-the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm-he will watch over your life.” But we do, in fact, experience harm, do we not? Yes, but the key is to be found in the final verse that assures us that God is watching over us, not only in the “now” but in the “forevermore,’ which will eclipse the “now” forever. And so we can pray throughout our lives, in all circumstance, with the knowledge that God is, indeed, attentive to our prayers, and will bring us safely into the “forever,” when Christ returns.
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How often does it seem as though our prayers are futile? Difficult times come; we pray for relief; it seems God does not hear; it seems his promises are empty. These are the realities presented to us in our Lectionary readings today. Jesus tells his disciples that “they should pray and not give up,” then tells them a parable in which a widow goes to an evil judge who is unwilling to take up her case. Over and again, she approaches the judge. She does not give up. Finally, realizing she’s not going to stop bothering him, he relents and takes up her case. Jesus then draws a parallel between the evil judge and God, and though it’s a strange one, it’s clear that though it may seem as though God is not listening, in the end, he answers prayer. The same can be seen in Psalm 121. The Psalm seems to say that God won’t let bad things happen to us: “The Lord watches over you-the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm-he will watch over your life.” But we do, in fact, experience harm, do we not? Yes, but the key is to be found in the final verse that assures us that God is watching over us, not only in the “now” but in the “forevermore,’ which will eclipse the “now” forever. And so we can pray throughout our lives, in all circumstance, with the knowledge that God is, indeed, attentive to our prayers, and will bring us safely into the “forever,” when Christ returns.
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