"The Parable of the Persistent Widow"
18 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?"
A lot of people misunderstand this parable. They think that Jesus is saying that the more you bug Jesus, the more you are "persistent" in your prayers, the more likely God is to answer you. As if you can nag Jesus into giving you what you want. That's not what this passage is about. It's about the goodness, mercy, and grace of Jesus.
Sometimes, according to our timing, God seems to take longer to give us the justice, mercy, and help that we need. It isn't that God is taking too long, God's timing is always perfect. It's that he even in his timing he is giving you what you need. It may be a lesson in patience that you need. It may be a "toughening up" through suffering that you need. It may be a breaking down so that you repent that you need. It may be that you suffering leads to physical death which will ultimately lead to eternal life. God is ALWAYS working everything out for your good.
So don't quit praying. Keep your conversations with God going, but realize that God speaks back to you in His Word. You need to have your ears open. If you try to talk to someone on the phone but don't have the receiver anywhere near your ear, you're not going to hear the person on the other end. If you have your ear pressed up to the phone you'll hear a whole lot better.
Have your ear pressed up to God's Word while you talk to Him in prayer. Listen intently to what He has to say to you. When you do, you will realize that, even though he may not be blessing you in the way you want, He is truly blessing you in an even better way, and you will have that peace that passes all understanding!
Prayer: Lord, bless me through my prayers. Help me to not give up, but to trust that You are working everything out for my good and Your glory. Amen.
______________________________________________________________________________________
CALENDAR
Wed- Choir 7
Thurs- Karate 5:30-7:30; Lutheranism 101 6:30pm
Sat- Worship 5pm
Sun- Worship 8:30; Sunday school 9:45; Chapel 11; Bible Study with Kelsey at Imo's; (Lutherans for Life Sunday)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
WORSHIP WORKERS FOR THIS COMING WEEKEND:
Acolyte- 8:30- Lydia Miller 11- Dulci Rahn
Ushers- George Hoelscher, Brent Davis, Gary Hoelscher, Ben Hoelscher
Altar- Set up- Terry Mckenzie ; Clean Up- Terry McKenzie
Elders- Sat- John Hachtel; 8:30- Jason Cluver; 11- Randy Fischer
Greeters- 8:30- Paul and Cindy Klover; 11- Dan and Lisa Rausch
Lay Readers- Sat- John Hachtel 8:30- Derek Ebert; 11- Paul Brockfeld
Piano- Sat- Kathy Barrow
Organist- Rachel Fisher
Projectionists: Sat- Kathy Fischer; 8:30- Julie Schaumberg
________________________________________________________________
YESTERDAY'S QUIZ: Who was Hanani? (The one in Ezra's time.)
The menu will be a surprise.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "St. John's Group Email" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to stjohnswarrenton+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.