THE COURAGE TO KEEP ASKING

This concept of persistence is a real hard one for me. So, I had my interview today. This was the first time I showed up with both a white cane and a walker. I am both blind and cripple. The interview itself was very hard and long. I left with this feeling of discouragement because I know I did not interview well. Also, walking into the office was a real challenge because there were stairs. Each step was so painful and I walked into the office already drained even before the interview. Recently, I just feel really tired. My job situation and my health situation remain so uncertain. I need the courage to persist with God. 

 He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has heaven and earth at his disposal

C. H. Spurgeon

This is the quote for this chapter. I am not quite sure what he means by overcome with God. It does have the idea of not giving up with God. There are these setbacks and these moments of difficulty and these are the hardest moments to overcome.

Sittser (2007) opens with an illustration from his own life. He was in seminary. He was 24 and his wife 25. Linda wanted children and ached to be a mother. She did not conceive until 34. They received many suggestions, some helpful and others hurtful. But, Linda at times would give up in praying. Sometimes, she felt like God was uncaring and distant. There are these times when we pray everyday and then become inconsistent thinking God is so distant and uncaring, so for a time we stop. I've been through some of these moments. Since I can remember early on in college, I've prayed for a wife. It has been nearly 13 years and so many times I have given up asking, thinking God has no interest in my love life. Then, there are periods when my faith and believe in God's goodness and provision are strong.

Sittser then addresses this idea of when to quit praying. He proposes that sometimes it is obvious like praying for a child's life to be spared like King David and then the child died. It is clear then the child will not return to health. Other times it is not so certain. Referring to Linda's pregnancy, Sittser:

"We were tempted to quit on more than one occasion. But we carried on, day after day, year after year, never failing to ask God for our heart's desire. It became almost monotonous and rote, at least to me, as if I was a phone solicitor, mouthing the same words a hundred or a thousand times a day. We persisted because we had no reason not to, other than the frustration of feeling that heaven's doors had been slammed shut. I wondered at times whether we were annoying God, subjecting him to the spiritual equivalent of Chinese water torture. The great masters of prayer have always been clear on this point: We should persist in prayer unless and until we have a good reason not to." (p. 79-80)

I wonder too whether or not I am annoying God with some of my prayers. These past few weeks I have prayed for healing for my joints and some days it feels like I said the same thing yesterday and yet the pain and discomfort in my joints lead me to continue asking for healing. I have no reason at this point to stop asking. He then follows by saying the failure of prayer is to stop praying.

Following are some historical voices that have a point worth pondering:

"The leaders of the fourteenth-century renewal movement called Devotio Maderna taught that persistence in prayer would build confidence that God really does care for us. "We ought to be vigorous in prayer and not easily brought to a halt. Nor should we imagine that God does not want to hear us; rather, even when we feel put off, we should not despair."" (p. 80).

Even when we feel put off, we should not despair. How often is it that when I feel put off, that is exactly when I stop. Persistence in prayer actually build confidences that God does care for us.

Sittser then talks about the Eastern Orthodox tradition who has given us the Jesus prayer. It gives us a method for persistence in prayer.

"Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

This prayer addresses the most basic concerns of prayer. Jesus is identified as God's Son. We acknowledge that we are sinners. And thirdly, it asks God for mercy.

The next section is hopeful results. The results of those who have prayed continuously also provide hope. Sittser speaks of a friend who has prayed and fasted consistently for ten years for a neighbor to come to faith. It was in that tenth year when the neighbor began going to church and gave his life to Christ. Ten years of prayer and fasting for a neighbor to come to faith.

Many people pray for many years with the same unresolved issues.

"In the face of such disappointment, some people give up--sometimes on prayer, sometimes even on God. They simply quit. They stop believing, hoping, and enduring. Unanswered prayer drives them away from God. But other people weather the storm of unanswered prayer and actually emerge from it stronger than before, like a tree overhanging a tempestuous ocean and strengthened by its exposure to harsh weather. These men and women become masters of the spiritual life and seasoned practitioners of prayer.

Surprisingly, the people I know who are the most faithful and fruitful masters of prayer are the ones who faced the most devastating experiences of unanswered prayer and yet somehow endured. Their disappointments and failures pushed them deeper into the spiritual life. They learned how to pray with greater power because their prayers seemed at one time to be powerless. What happened to them? What kept them going?" (p. 82)

Failures in our lives is what should turn us toward God with continued and renewed faith. I think I am in the category of believers who often does not immerge from unanswered prayer stronger. I often give up.

Sittser talks about how our culture does not help. We are a culture of instant results and instant gratification. Prayer does not operate that way. Prayer is a journey. It is an epic journey with triumphs and disappointments.

This concept of persistence in prayer is Biblical. Jesus provides a parable in Luke 18 about a persistent widow who asks a judge for justice. Because of her persistence, the judge grants her the request. This idea is supported by the comment that ends the parable:

And will not God bring about justice for his Chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?. I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly."

God cares about our concerns. I think the frequency and persistence by which we come to God demonstrates our seriousness in our asking.

So why be persistent in prayer? Is God trying to reinforce some kind of nagging spirituality? Sittser suggests otherwise.

Still, there may be good reason for persistence in prayer. It can affect us in positive ways. First, persistence drives us to God, again and again, thus reinforcing the relationship. The point of prayer, after all, is the relationship itself, not the things we get from the relationship. Whatever the reasons for unanswered prayer, surely our relationship with God should be bigger than whether or not God chooses to answer our prayers!" (p. 87).

Prayer drives us to God, this is a given. We turn to no one else because no one else can help in these difficult situations that we are praying about. It is the relationship that is central. It is not so much if we get what we ask for but that God is who we turn to and who comes through and is present,.

There is still another reason:

"Persistence also purges and purifies us. Unanswered prayer might force us to change how we pray, though we keep praying all the same. Far from giving up, our prayers will move us ever closer to the heart of what God wants for us.

Some people persist for years in praying to God for the same thing--the conversion of a parent, the growth of a church, the healing of strife within a family. In the end their prayers get results; they get what they asked for.

 Other people persist for years in praying for something that never happens. Instead of giving up, they change how they are praying. They begin to pray that God will help them to love a child who does not return to the faith, to forgive a spouse who does not want reconciliation, to remain faithful to a church that keeps declining. In other words, they continue on the epic journey, adjusting to the changing landscape and adapting to new circumstances. They don't stop because the landscape is not to their liking or the plot isn't turning out as they expected. They change their expectations and continue the journey, always keeping in mind the ultimate goal--the coming of God's kingdom, the doing of God's will." (p. 90-91)

This reason is powerful. Prayer, persistent prayer is important because it changes us and grows us in our faith. We may not get what we ask for, but we continue in prayer and God changes us. It purifies us and matures us. Sittser makes mention of Paul's thorn in the flesh.. Paul prayed three times for its removal but God did not take it away. Rather, Paul learned that God's grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in Paul's weakness.

Sittser then shares about a beloved colleague at the college. This professor once shared from Paul's experience about his own thorn in the flesh. He had a medical condition that did not become healed.

"Though Howard never stopped praying, he did over time begin to pray differently. Rather than pray that his weakness be overcome, he concentrated on God's goodness strength, which was made perfect in his weakness. He became deeply aware of God's provision in his life. "On the days medicine is not working, the Lord has to give me grace. In those times, Christ has been there for me."

Howard recognized the gifts that God had given to him his faithful and loving wife of thirty-eight years, financial stability, a job he loved, and many loyal friends. But How was a gift to us, too. He became the champion of the coll mission, a source of encouragement to all, especially to faculty, and an example of God's love for the campus." (p. 92)

What a shift in attitude and thought. We become more aware of God and His power and provision in our weakness. Prayer is a journey and it drives us into the heart of God where we find Him to be sufficient and to meet our deepest needs. We do not always get what we want, but in praying God gives us something better.

Sittser concludes with the story of Jacob and his transformation:

"Then he gave Jacob a new name, "Israel.': a peculiar name, and not particularly complimentary. The name reflects a quality of character that God values. It means, "one who strives with God." Jacob was a so that became his name--and not only his name, but the name of God's chosen people, for all time.

That is what God looks for in us. He wants us to strive with him, as he does with us. To wrestle with him as if life depended on it, because it probably does. To persist in prayer, no matter how much the odds are stacked against To refuse to take "no" for an answer from God, just as, has refused to take "no" for an answer from us, no how long and hard we have resisted him. It is the least we do, what God has done for us, what love requires and demands.

Persistence is a good way to respond to unanswered prayer. In effect, it is saying, "God, you may choose not to answer my prayers. But I'm going to keep praying all the same, even if you get sick of it." (pp. 98-99).

Prayer:

Father, I come to You tonight being more convinced than ever that You delight in having a relationship with Your people. Not just a shallow relationship, but rather a deep and close relationship. The Bible shows that constant pursuing of Your people and ultimately when You came to Your people for the redemption of many. God, You so care for us and delight in having a relationship. Often times, we give up so quickly in asking for real and serious needs and think You don't care but in these times may we have the faith and the devotion to come nearer even still. In the process, Father change us, grow us. As You did with Paul and his thorn in the flesh, teach us in the journey of prayer. Right now, I have my own thorn, and it is the pain in my joints. I pray continuously for healing but do not know yet what is the problem or what it means. Father, please give me the wisdom and strength to know and accept Your will in this. Today's job interview did not go so well and I don't know if I ever will find employment. So Father, I pray for my future and ask that You provide in ways I never thought were possible.