Monday, May 15, 2006

The persistent widow...

Yesterday, I preached the latest installment in Cornerstone's message series "Wearable, Shareable Parables." It was about Luke 18:1-8, and is often called the parable of the persistent widow. At first glance, it seems to suggest that in order to get what we want, all we need is to bug God. He'll just get so tired of us, that He'll finally throw up His hands in disgust and say "enough already! Yes, whatever you want...just leave me alone!" If you were here yesterday, then you'll remember the "dink-donk, dink-donk Dairy Queen" song! You can listen on mp3 if you have a broadband connection.

We learned that this is not the case! God is good and will ALWAYS respond to our requests for the "right" things, in other words, justice. If a jerk like the unjust judge in the story will do what is right, don't you think that a Righteous, Holy, Loving Heavenly Father will to? I do!

Lord, thank you that hear us in prayer, and that you give us the right things. May we be so faithful that as we live our lives with you and for you, we will end up looking more like you! And as we do, might we ask for the "just" things in prayer!

1 comment:

Jan said...

Again, I refer to The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg, (chapter 6 on prayer) p. 105 says in reference to the persistent widow, "...if persistence pays off even on the human level where we have to overcome resistance and apathy on the part of those we approach, how much more should we continue to persist when we approach a heavenly Father whose love and wisdom exceed our wildest imaginings."