Christopher Hitchens is the author of God is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything. The title of his book tells his attitude toward God. Hitchens was 62 when he was undergoing chemotherapy for his throat cancer. Now deceased, he was famous for his atheism. So many Christians prayed for his healing during his chemotherapy. To those who pray for his healing, Hitchens offers the following opinion, “I think of it as a nice gesture. And it may well make them feel better, which is a good thing in itself.” Is prayer nothing more than a nice gesture?
We pray to God to provide but we’re still out of work. We pray for the sick, but they are not healed. We pray for someone to have a life transforming experience with Christ, but he or she keeps running from God. We pray for a partner in life, but we are still alone. Is prayer just something that “makes us feel better?”
Today, we continue our series Seven Practices of a Healthy Christian. The series is began with the heart where our greatest satisfaction is found in Christ. Today, we concentrate on our knees for the purpose of prayer. I doubt if there is any Christian who has not sometimes found it difficult to pray.
Three Excuses Not to Pray
1. There is No Need to Pray
Paul Miller is the father to six children. Several summers ago, his family was camping in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania. His wife, Jill, stayed home with his eight year old daughter, Kim. They were exiting the campsite to head home in their Dodge Caravan, when Paul’s fourteen year old daughter, Ashley, lost her contact lens. Looking down at a forest floor, covered with leaves and twigs, there were a million little crevices for the lens to disappear into. Paul said, “Ashley, don’t move. Let’s pray.” Before the father could pray, Ashley burst into tears. She spoke these words, “What good does it do? I’ve prayed for Kim to speak, and she isn’t speaking.” Ashley’s little sister suffered from autism and developmental delay. She was mute because of her health problems. Kim hadn’t taken God at His word and asked that Jill, her sister, would speak. But nothing had happened. Many of us share in Ashley’s cynicism as we’ve prayed and seen little happen. Few of us have possessed Ashley’s courage to voice our doubts out loud. Cynicism throws water on the campfire of prayer. I sympathize with this young’s lady’s struggles. Nevertheless, such doubt hinder the arm of God. To doubt prayer is to doubt God.
2. I’m Too Busy to Pray
American culture is probably the hardest place in the world to pray. We are so busy that when we slow down to pray, we feel guilty. Americans prize accomplishments. We feel guilty if we are not busy. Your confidence in your own abilities is among the top killers of a prayer life that has any traction. People who are confident in their own abilities often fail at prayer. The very thing we are allergic to – our helplessness – is what makes prayer work. Multi-taskers must quit multi-tasking in order to pray.
3. I Don’t Feel Like Praying
The difficulty here is that we feel the need to pray we also feel just how unspiritual we really are. “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). Our challenge is that we don’t come to Christ messy. “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Luke 18:22).
God wants the real you. He doesn’t want you to shower before cleaning up. Gunshot victims don’t do surgery on themselves before going to the hospital. Come to God messy. Don’t be frozen by your self-preoccupation. Instead, tell God you are weary and tired.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
God is good to His deepest core: “a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory…” (Matthew 12:20).
It’s at just such times that Jesus tells a parable in order that His people would not lose heart to pray.
“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth” (Luke 18:1-8)?
Of the seven spiritual practices, this is the only habit that no one else can observe. For the Bible commands Christ-followers to secret prayer – prayer when no one else is around. One of the quickest ways to determine your level of spiritual maturity is identify what’s on your mind whenever you don’t have to focus on anything else. What does your mind wander to when your mind has time to wander? Is it your dreams of marriage or a big home? Or do you quickly turn to prayer? Today, I want to turn up the volume of your hope in God. I want you to leave today certain that God will hear the prayers of His people.
1. Prayer and Christ’s Coming
Today’s passage comes toward the end of a longer section of Luke’s Gospel where his emphasis is on faithfulness at Christ’s Second Coming. The entire section has a decidedly “end of times” edge to it. You see the edge vividly in verse eight:
“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8b)
Luke 18:8 is a bookend to Luke 17:20-21: “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.’” (Luke 17:20-21)
The entire section is concerned with the return of Jesus Christ. It’s been nearly 2,000 years since Jesus lifted His heals from earth to sit at the right hand of the Father (Acts 1). The Bible teaches that Jesus came once to save sinners by dying on the cross. The Bible also teaches that Jesus is coming back to the end of the world. He will gather the people who have trusted their lives to Him but He will also judge those who failed to trust Him. Many today scoff that Christians maintain that Christ will return to the earth to judge every person from every nation (2 Peter 3:3-7). While some scoff and others show little concern, this church maintains that His Second Coming is certain and suddenly.
A good story has strong characters and Jesus’ story has two strong characters. He first introduces us to a crooked judge. This wicked man provides a foil if you will for Jesus to speak of the faithfulness of God the Father throughout the end of time. Jesus then places before our attention the feeble widow. The widow is a model of perseverance in the midst of wickedness that characterizes the last days. So here is Jesus’ two driving points: The certainty of God’s goodness …and… to encourage His people not to give up on prayer. Knowing that hostility is coming our way, Jesus calls on His followers to be assured that His delay in coming will not be long. We’re not to be lax in our prayer life nor in our discipleship.
Jesus tells us about the upcoming hostility: “And he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation” (Luke 17:22-25).
God’s people will be the recipients of wickedness in this unjust world. Nevertheless, you can be certain that God will hear the prayers of His people.
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been” (Revelation 6:9-11).
It is absolutely certain that God will hear the prayers of His people. From beneath the altar souls cry to God both day and night as they seek to vindicate the cause of Christ. They shall be answered quickly.
2. Persist in Prayer
“‘yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night” (Luke 18:5-7b)?
Jesus uses a widow in His story on purpose. A widow would have no standing in the community in contrast to the judge. Inasmuch as the ancient court system belonged to the world of men, the fact that this women finds herself before the magistrate shows that she has no male family member to bring her case to court. The fact that she continually comes to the court for justice shows she doesn’t have money to bribe him for a swift settlement. A widow in the first century Jewish tradition was the ultimate example of vulnerability. She was status deprived. She continually badgered the judge. Notice verse five: “this widow keeps bothering me…” Jesus paints for us a picture of a boxing match where the macho, unjust judge is cornered by the least powerful person in the community. He finally relents to the sluggings of an old widow woman.
This widow is astonishingly persistence. She found out where the judge lived and sat out in front of his driveway. She pleaded for justice as he left his chambers on his way to lunch. She begged him for justice in front of his colleagues. She pestered him in restaurants and called him at his home. Even the judge’s wife knew the widow’s name.
People can believe for a time, but to hold out through the long darkness is another matter. Some soldiers are good at a rush, but they cannot stand fast hour after hour. This widow can be compared to another women Jesus just spoke about in the previous chapter: “Remember Lot's wife” (Luke 17:32). Don’t allow your love for Christ to grow cold in the last days. Don’t go with the flow like a school of fish. Be persistent not because you must get a bad God’s attention by repetition. Persistent in prayer because we know He will hear us.
Pray! Pray! Pray!
To cry “Hosanna” when Christ comes into Jerusalem but where are they when the populace cries “Crucify Him!” Learn to plead in prayer when no answer comes. Persevere in prayer. It was by perseverance that the snail reached the ark in Noah’s day. Be like the rocks on a shoreline that defy the raging waves. When waves of unbelief crashes around you everywhere, stand firm in your resolve to pray. Be like this widow before an unjust judge. She had no other option other than he hear her. Perhaps she was about to lose her small amount of property where her house sat. If she lost that, her children would die of starvation. She thought, “I have no other option. The judge must hear.” Plunge into the sea of holy confidence and swim in the waters of prayer.
Oh, that our church would have many more people who prayed for the lost by name. Who continually before the throne room of heaven called the name of the lost in order that God would changer their hearts. Such a conquering faith is such a rarity!
“The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7).
Jesus said: “they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). When you pray, do as Dory did in the movie, Finding Nemo, “Just Keep Swimming.”
3. Is God an Unjust Judge?
With just a minimum of words Jesus created an indelible pictures in today’s story where two very distinct characters meet. We’ve already met the widow. Not let’s meet the crooked judge.
Jesus uses an argument method called from the lesser to the greater in verse seven: “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them” (Luke 18:7)?
A rancher in Powder Bluff, Colorado was asked if he wish to subscribe to National Geographic. The computer mistakenly sent him 9,734 renewal notices! The rancher drove ten miles to the nearest post office and sent in a check to renew his subscription, along with a note that read, “I give up. Send me your magazine!” This is exactly what the crooked judge did. He was pestered into justice.
Jesus tells this story to tell us His Father is different than the crooked judge. God is everything the crooked judge is not. “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man” (Luke 18:2a). God is good and gracious where the judge is crooked. God is loving where the judge could care less. God is the Mighty Judge who promises to make everything right. He will one day render perfect justice throughout the universe. Again, God is good to His deepest core. Many see God delaying and scoff that prayer is worthless. They scoff thinking that prayer is simply throwaway words.
You are to be like the martyrs under the altar we read about in Revelation 6. Ask God to bare His are of strength to vindicate His cause. Shall not God move when His children ask?
“I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)
On the last day He will be preoccupied with a great scrutiny… He will issue a search warrant for houses and hearts where His enquiry will be: “Where is your faith?” If we lose heart and drift away from prayer, then the Son of man will not find faith in us when he comes. So where does your mind wander to when your mind has time to wander? Do you quickly turn to prayer?
