ALWAYS PRAYING AND NOT FAINTING
In two parables in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus
teaches with great emphasis the lesson that men ought always to pray
and not to faint. The first parable is found in Luke 11:5-8, and the
other in Luke 18:1-8.
"And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall
go unto him at midnight, and say unto him: 'Friend, lend me three
loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I
have nothing to set before him?' And he from within shall answer and
say: 'Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with
me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.' I say unto you, Though he
will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of
his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth."
(Luke 11:5-8)
"And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men always ought
to pray and not to faint, saying: There was in a city a judge which
feared not God, neither regarded man; and there was a widow in that
city; and she came to him, saying:
"'Avenge me of mine adversary.'
"And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself:
'Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow
troubleth me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she
weary me.'
"And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not
God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though
He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them
speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find
faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:1-8)
In the former of these two parables Jesus sets forth the necessity
of importunity in prayer in a startling way. The word rendered
"importunity" means literally "shamelessness," as if Jesus would
have us understand that God would have us draw nigh to Him with a
determination to obtain the things we seek that will not be put to
shame by any seeming refusal or delay on God's part. God delights in
the holy boldness that will not take "no" for an answer. It is an
expression of great faith, and nothing pleases God more than faith.
Jesus seemed to put the Syro-Phoenician woman away almost with
rudeness, but she would not be put away, and Jesus looked upon her
shameless importunity with pleasure, and said, "O woman, great is
thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." (Matt. 15:28) God
does not always let us get things at our first effort. He would
train us and make us strong men by compelling us to work hard for
the best things. So also He does not always give us what we ask in
answer to the first prayer; He would train us and make us strong men
of prayer by compelling us to pray hard for the best things. He
makes us PRAY THROUGH.
I am glad that this is so. There is no more blessed training in
prayer than that that comes through being compelled to ask again and
again and again even through a long period of years before one
obtains that which he seeks from God. Many people call it submission
to the will of God when God does not grant them their requests at
the first or second asking, and they say:
"Well, perhaps it is not God's will."
As a rule this is not submission, but spiritual laziness. We do not
call it submission to the will of God when we give up after one or
two efforts to obtain things by action; we call it lack of strength
of character. When the strong man of action starts out to accomplish
a thing, if he does not accomplish it the first, or second or one
hundredth time, he keeps hammering away until he does accomplish it;
and the strong man of prayer when he starts to pray for a thing
keeps on praying until he prays it through, and obtains what he
seeks. We should be careful about what we ask from God, but when we
do begin to pray for a thing we should never give up praying for it
until we get it, or until God makes it very clear and very definite
to us that it is not His will to give it.
Some would have us believe that it shows unbelief to pray twice for
the same thing, that we ought to "take it" the first time that we
ask. Doubtless there are times when we are able through faith in the
Word or the leading of the Holy Spirit to CLAIM the first time that
which we have asked of God; but beyond question there are other
times when we must pray again and again and again for the same thing
before we get our answer. Those who have gotten beyond praying twice
for the same thing have gotten beyond their Master, (Matt. 26:44).
George Muller prayed for two men daily for upwards of sixty years.
One of these men was converted shortly before his death, I think at
the last service that George Muller held, the other was converted
within a year after his death. One of the great needs of the present
day is men and women who will not only start out to pray for things,
but pray on and on and on until they obtain that which they seek
from the Lord.
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