Persistent Prayer

Luke 18:1-8

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, so he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects and throwing them into the ocean. He came closer still and called out, "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish into the ocean." "I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man. To this the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!" As if he hadn't heard, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he turned, smiled and said, "It made a difference to that one!"

If I were to use one word to describe this man who was saving the starfish I would use the word persistent.  He knew the job of saving the starfish was a huge task, but he kept right on doing it.  He wanted to make a difference and he did just that.  He knew he couldn’t save them all, but with his persistent attitude he could still make a difference in the lives of some of them.

The same word could summarize our Gospel lesson today.  In order to illustrate the need to pray always Jesus uses the story of this persistent widow.  Jesus wants our prayer life to reflect the persistence of this widow.  Jesus wants our prayer life to be persistent.  He wants us to continually come to him in prayer.  Our persistence in prayer should get to point of almost being bothersome or annoying to God, like this widow was to the judge.  Even though we will never be bothersome or annoying to God.

Jesus also says that this parable should illustrate our need to never lose heart.  That exemplifies true persistence.  Like the persistent widow this is prayer that never stops and even though it is not answered the way want in the timing we would like it just keeps going.  The persistent widow never gives up.  She just keeps continually coming to the judge day in and day out asking for justice.  Sure, she gets annoying and bothersome.  Yet, she never loses heart.  His refusal never gets to her.  It never makes her stop and reconsider her persistence.

Now remember prayer is not just about us and our wants.  Prayers that are self-centered, concerned only with petty issues, or irrelevant must take the back seat.  Prayers like this do not take the power of prayer seriously.  Prayer is about our needs.  Prayer is also about other people.  It is meant to make us look outward, outside of ourselves, for the other people in our world who need us to intercede in prayer on their behalf.  So much happens in our world that needs prayer.  Things happen close by, in our communities and neighborhoods.  Things also happen far away to people who we have never met and will never know.  These are the people on whose behalf we are called to be persistent prayer warriors.

Often in parables we can make the claim that if God does this for this person, then how much more will God do for us.  In this parable we could make the claim that if the persistent widow is granted justice by this judge, then how much more will God grant us justice if we too are persistent?  If we believe that claim to be true then we must be persistent in our prayer life on behalf of others and for ourselves.

Be persistent as you pray for countries at war.

Be persistent as you pray for people with illness.

Be persistent as you pray for children who are sold into slavery and tortured.

Be persistent as you pray for ranchers after this storm.

Be persistent as you pray for countries amidst political unrest and violence.

Be persistent as you pray for those who received a lot of damage from the storm.

Be persistent as you pray for the people involved in recent vehicle accidents.

Be persistent as you pray for families involved in house fires.

Be persistent as you pray for people that are hungry.

Be persistent as you pray for countries without clean drinking water.

Be persistent as you pray for our neighbors near and far.

Be persistent as you pray for those who are regarded as unimportant.

Be persistent as you pray for those who are powerless.

Be persistent as you pray for those who are alone.

Be persistent as you pray for the leaders of our nation and our military.

Be persistent as you pray for our congregation.

Be persistent as you pray for yourself and your family.

That list is not even the tip of the iceberg for our prayer life.  And at times it can feel just a little too daunting.  Those are the times when even though we are trying to be persistent, we still can’t do it.  Yes, there are times when it gets too difficult to pray for this broken world.  Know this, when you stop persisting in prayer, God will continue to be persistent.  God will continue to put people in our lives so that we can know the presence of God.  When we can’t reach out to God, God will reach out to us.  Because that is who our God is – a persistent God.  So, be persistent as you pray to our persistent God and never lose heart.  Amen.