Pray without shame

In the middle of a church service, one child was becoming noisy and distracting. As the parents were losing the battle to manage the situation, the father picked him up walked down the aisle really fast on his way out. Just before reaching the door, the little one called loudly to the congregation, "pray for me, pray for me!." In Luke Chapter 18, Jesus taught through the parable of a widow that a believer should pray with shameless persistence. A poor, powerless person (the widow) persists in nagging a corrupt, powerful person (the judge) to do justice for her. The purpose of the parable is to encourage Christians to persevere in their faith against all odds.

There are three main characters in this story - the poor widow, an adversary who had done injustice to the widow and a corrupt judge. All odds are here against the poor widow, who does not have a voice. Well, not so. There is a fourth character, God, the just and merciful judge, who can and will bring about justice to all who are oppressed. This extraordinary woman refuses to accept her fate as it is, rather she voices opposition to injustice without relenting. As a result of her persistence, even the unjust judge is moved to grant justice. How much more God, the perfect judge desires to help those who are wronged.

We live in one of the worst times in history with humanitarian crises. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost and many are being displaced in Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Myanmar as s result of civil unrest. Even in more stable countries, violence and hatred take the lives of innocent citizens. While we can be easily overwhelmed and feel discouraged, it is the time to draw strength from God. The cries of people around the world do not go unheard. I encourage that Christians will unrelentingly pray, demonstrate, and call for peace with justice on behalf of our brothers and sisters everywhere. God looks upon the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow with deep concern for their situation and responds through his people. Jesus indicates that God is the unseen actor. “Will not God grant justice for his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?” (Luke 18:7).

We need to constantly remind us that God’s will is at work even in a corrupt world. During election times, we get confused with the choices of the candidates we have. We cannot right every wrong in the world in our lifetimes. But we must never give up hope, and never stop working for the greater good in the midst of the imperfect systems. In democracy, legislators generally do not have a choice of voting for a good law versus a bad one. Usually due to bipartisanship, the best they can do is to vote for bills that do more good than bad. It is our civic duty as well as people of conviction to use our right to exercise our vote in the elections. We are in a fallen world. Only God can bring about justice in this corrupt world. That is why we must pray and not give up in our work. God can bring miraculous justice in a corrupt world, just as God can bring miraculous healing in a sick world. We saw the Berlin wall crumbled, the apartheid removed, civil and minority rights are restored in many parts around the world, in some cases, peace is established.

Sometimes we feel frustrated when we see no results. Prayer is not a reminder to alert God, rather it is a confession of our inability and the acknowledgement of the greatness of God. It is man who needs prayer, and not God. The Bible teaches us that God gives the harvest and our job is to garden. We plant and expect them to grow. But some plants dry off and some grow and we dont know why. "Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." (1 Corinthians 3:5, 7). When Mother Teresa was asked why she would continue to pick up the dying people and children from the streets of Calcutta, though half of them died in six months, she said, “humans have a right to die in a place of love”. She said “None of us can do anything great on our own, but we can all do a small thing with great love”. Paul writes, "Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all." (Gal 6:9). So is with prayer. Let us not grow weary of praying.

Trudy Gard (Maine, U.S.A.) writes in one devotional that she had a hard time with the promise in 1 John 5:15 that reads, "If we know that God hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests". Jesus also said “ whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24). She had been praying for her brother to return to the Lord. When he died suddenly, it seemed as though her 'same old' prayer had failed. She asked herself, "what difference did my faith even make?" Shortly after her brother's death, his son was hospitalized for depression. She writes, "I tried to encourage my nephew by letters explaining how my relationship with Christ had sustained me through various difficulties in my life. Then, as I continued to write about trusting Jesus, and to trust in the promise given in 1 John. We may not always see or understand the answer, but we can be sure that God does answer. Recently, my nephew received Christ as his Savior. I believe it had something to do with the 'same old' prayer."

E. Stanley Jones, the great missionary to India in our time, said about prayer, "Prayer is surrender-surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a hook from a boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God." Prayer is the rope that pulls us toward God. Through prayers, we will be drawn more towards God. When we pray, if we don’t get an answer right away, or we don’t get the answer we hoped to hear, we are told not to stop praying. We are to keep asking patiently, day by day. We should not take God’s silence as a sign of rejection and continue to pray without shame. How wonderful it is to realize that our heavenly father is so much more giving, loving, and wise,in spite of our sinful nature ! He gives us much better than we deserve.

Blessings