Now there’s another piece here, and we have to talk about it, because it’s real life. He says he tells the parable for two reasons. He tells the parable so that we know we could always pray and should always pray, but He also says that we would pray and not lose heart.
Everyone of you would have a story where you really prayed, you really cried out to God and there was this thing that you wanted. It wasn’t a bad thing, it wasn’t selfish and it wasn’t, “Please God, let the Cowboys win tonight.” It wasn’t that kind of thing, but it was rich, weighty and it looked like it was tied to things that God would like. So we’ve prayed for a family member. We have prayed for the salvation of a friend. We have prayed for a sick loved one. We have cried out and asked God to work, and it just seems like it just hasn’t been answered and that He’s not listening. So we have a tendency to lose heart, we’re confused and maybe we even feel betrayed by God.
I think the reason that Jesus ends this text with “never the less will the Son of Man find faith on earth” is because we’re being let in on some really deep waters here. Here are the deep waters. We are simply far too ignorant to understand the will of God. We don’t have enough information and don’t have enough facts, so our role as children of God is to trust the sovereignty of God as it expands out so much farther than our own understanding. Now can I unpack for you why certain things happen and certain things don’t? I have warred on my knees, fasted, cried out and begged for the lives of certain people who are sick, and they went on home. And then I have plead, asked God and fasted for Him to rescue others, and He has healed them outright. Did I pray harder on one than the other? No. Did I want one more than the other? Not that I can think of. Were there just not enough people with me when I was praying? No, it was very similar.
So there is a mystery to prayer that we’re going to have to grow comfortable with. Is God sovereign? Over every cell in the universe. Over every atom that exists, He is sovereign. So why pray? Because God has ordained to accomplish His will through the prayers of the saints. So we join God and the work of God by asking God for what God has asked us to ask of Him. Matt Chandler – Call To Pray
i thought this dovetailed nicely with the previous post on REAL LIFE FAITH
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