And he spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to
pray, and not to faint. – Luk
18:1
The book of Psalms is essentially the ‘Prayer Book’ of the Jews. In it,
they see a pattern for them to follow in expressing themselves to Jehovah.
But the prayers in Psalms are anything but your regular Sunday Worship
prayer. In the Psalms, as Rick Warren once wrote, you hear “ranting, raving,
doubts, fears, resentments, and deep passions combined with thanksgiving,
praise, and statements of faith. Every possible emotion is catalogued.”
Prayer must be honest, sincere and passionate conversations with a
lovingly responding Father; not detached, monochromic repetitions to a deity up
there somewhere.
Zechariah was a man of prayer, but his prayers weren’t sincere. He
really wasn’t expecting an answer, (Lk 1:13,18). Similarly, Pharaoh had a
problem with his frogs, but apparently, it wasn’t a really serious
problem: because he wasn’t that much in a hurry to get rid of them, (Ex
8:8-10).
The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar however, is another case. He had a
mysterious nightmare one day and asked for the interpretation from his group of
advisors. But none was able to help him, indeed, they said his demands were
impossible, (he refused to tell them the dream they were supposed to
interpret).
Nevertheless, instead of consenting to their explanations, he declared, “If
you don't tell me the dream and its meaning, you will be torn limb from limb,
and your houses will be turned into piles of rubble.” (Dan 2:5 GW).
Now that’s passion.
Was his demand impossible? Yes!
Was his demand met in spite of said impossibility? Yes!
Daniel had to pray the answer down; and I can assure you it was not a
cold, formulaic prayer. James 5:16 says,
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,”
and you can be sure that a great deal of the “fervent” of Daniel’s prayer came
directly from the owner of the problem, (Nebuchadnezzar).
When our Lord gave us a parable to encourage us to pray (Lk 18:1-8), He
emphasised the attitude of importunity: insistence and persistence. If we don’t
show any seriousness with our request, why do we expect anything to change?
This season, I implore
you to recheck your attitude in prayer,, and may Heaven answer all your petitions
in Jesus’ name.
AMEN.
GREG ELKAN
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