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Jesus on prayer: The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican

Considering the events of the past week, there don’t seem to be many reasons to be positive right now…

A majority of our representatives in federal government just spent the last several weeks engaging in a three-ring circus of what turned out to be nothing but a diversion.

Ultimately, they produced historically bad results. Considering what seems a Jeffersonian list (“a long train of abuses”) of Congressional actions, sinking to a new low of historically bad is particularly significant. In addition to once again having undermined our Constitution (“Super Congress”), the negative fall-out from the debt-deal mess has only just begun.

Even before this most recent episode began to play out on America’s political stage, some people were becoming disgusted with both political parties. I’ve even heard some of them say, “There’s nothing we can do about any of this.”

In a way, that’s the reaction we’re supposed to have. There is not much we can do. At least, we can’t do much on our own. We should turn our concerns about our government and our elected officials over to the Lord, pray for guidance and His will to be done, just as we do with our concerns about ourselves and our families.

“In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” – Phillippians 4:6-7

Certainly there are a lot of people who have been praying about their concerns for the country for sometime, but a “Peace…that passeth all understanding”? As frail humans, this can be hard to imagine, let alone accept, so some of us have to remind ourselves that we need to keep praying when that peace seems illusive.

As we struggle, we look around us, and when we see what is going on in our government, it’s hard not to ask the question…

Is God really answering our prayers?

Sometimes we don’t get the answers we want or expect, or at least not in the way that we expect them. Laura Story’s song, Blessings, provides some insight :

It makes sense to me that there are many lessons to be learned from the frustrations we experience when events are not moving as we expect or would wish.  One notable verse from the song reminds us, “This is not our home“. It seems that the first lesson is obtaining a proper perspective on this world versus that.

I think another explanation for what seems to be a lack of answer to prayer as expected in matters of importance to our country is that it may be simply the fact that there aren’t enough people who are praying. At the beginning I said “there are people who are becoming disgusted”. Who knows how many people are disgusted, are praying, or are even paying any attention? Perhaps there are not enough yet.

The Prophet Isaiah

The Bible is filled with verses about the Lord’s timing¹, about how He will always keep His word², about answers to prayer³, and perhaps most importantly, that He wishes for all to repent:

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” ~ 2 Peter 3:9

All this seems to make sense. But, again, as humans, while we wait, seeking peace and asking for patience, we wonder, we doubt, and we try to make some sense out of what we are seeing, especially when things look particularly bad:

“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him: fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.” ~ Psalm 37:7

The film Evan Almighty was certainly no masterpiece, but it seemed worth watching, for the following scene alone:

Too many of our elected officials, regardless of party, their supporters, and many of the pundits seem to be contributing to one dumb decision after the next. Politicians seem to only have gotten better at paying lip service, better at maneuvering. Perhaps as the clip above expresses, all that we are seeing are simply more answers to our prayers. Some of us are being provided with opportunities to reinforce what we suspect and others are being startled awake.

However much we’ve all heard about “change”, let’s face it, we find it hard to accept. Accepting ideas like the one that both political parties are the problem or that the elected officials from our own state who we decided we could always trust, but should not, means a lot of change.

It’s more comfortable to keep doing the same things. It doesn’t seem a stretch to say, we are all being made very uncomfortable. Is the Lord helping us ensure that we do not go back to our old ways?

We are being provided with opportunities to see truth.

“Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” ~ John 8:32

Once we know truth, don’t the answers regarding what to do about it become a lot clearer?

Opportunities to find truth abound. That seems very much like answer to prayer and the fulfillment of promises. Now there’s something positive, something calling for gratitude. As a child I learned, and have been reminded in serving periodically as a Sunday preschool teacher, that a rainbow is a promise.

With gratitude for fulfilled promises and the gift of many opportunities, I’ll end on a far more pleasant note than I began: