Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. —Luke 18:1
Did you ever let go when you had a struggle? Did you ever feel you were taking the right course of action, only to hear someone suggest otherwise, and so you gave up?
There comes a time when we all need to be confronted with the fact that we don't know God as well as we may think. God has a way of putting us in our place lest our preconceived ideas and our small way of thinking keep us from seeing Him when He comes.
Reading church history reveals that God turns up in different ways. Take, for example, Hebrews 11. Not one of the people described there—Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Elijah—could have the luxury of seeing God as He had appeared in previous times. They each had to accept that which was different to them and be regarded as a fool. That is what made faith, faith.
We have to come to the place where we see when God is at work for ourselves, and if no one else believes it, we do. That is how real God must become to us. The difficulty is that in knowing Him a little, we assume we know God better than we really do.
Perhaps you are seeking God, and someone, perhaps a person whom you greatly respect, has persuaded you to give up. Perhaps you have prayed about something, and because God didn't answer you within a short time you gave up. Have you ever wondered what would have happened if you had held on?
The point Jesus made in the parable of the importunate widow was to keep praying and not to give up. Wrestling in prayer isn't all that much fun, and I wonder how many of us have given up too hastily, feeling God was not going to answer.
God graciously comes again. Seek God again with all your heart, and you will find Him.
Excerpted from All's Well That Ends Well (Authentic Media, 2005).
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