Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, Luke 18:1
God is honest with us. He never strings us along, but instead helps us at the right time out of His nature to love, show kindness, and care for our needs.
His honest, consistent guidance is our next sure footing.
He never tells us something in haste just to get us out of His hair so we will stop bothering Him with questions. He doesn’t lie, or even “panic” lie – you know, the quick answer we sometimes get after asking a question – the answer we sense might not be true, but is blurted out to us for fear of how we could respond?
We all do it. We panic, grab the first answer that comes to mind, uncertain of truth, and then offer it so as to protect ourselves. We ought to make the repair immediately once hit with conviction that what we just said is wrong.
Worse is the character flaw of doing it habitually, on purpose, as a normal part of one’s method for getting through most conversations.
What is needed instead is a moment to think and tell the truth. If the truth is not known at the moment, we must make a request for time to find out the correct answer.
Both take time, leadership, integrity and humility.
It means sometimes saying, “I don’t know the correct answer at the moment; let me find out,” and then returning with the answer or making a referral to someone who is able to provide the accurate answer.
This way, honesty follows through.
Again, this type of reply takes more time, effort and consideration.
But the need to almost always say “I don’t know the correct answer at the moment; let me find out,” then do so and get back to someone, is far better than giving some on the fly thought out of fear or impatience. This answer might only appear uncertain, but is actually the reply of faith and integrity – the strong answer.
It is possible to reply this way by asking God for help in how we communicate. He only responds with truth and nothing else.
God’s nature is honesty which means integrity that follows through when He says He will do something.
God is not like a judge who just wanted to get a woman out of the way so she would take up no more of his time or attention. Look at this passage about the unjust judge in Luke 18: 1-8 (NASB):
Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’”
And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Now compare the judge’s response, to the woman’s plight, to how God addresses us. The judge, whose job it is to listen to people and figure out a best solution, was annoyed instead. Here, he is viewed as an unjust judge, failing people and admitting with his own mouth, “I do not fear God nor respect man.”
No wonder the woman would never have gotten help without her constant returning to this judge! She had to keep reminding and asking him, and no doubt felt ignored.
But God instead provides honesty which also means integrity.
How God listens and responds causes us to feel at ease taking a next step of faith, and turning over our needs to Him.
God does not ask us to pray without ceasing because He cannot remember or is ignoring us. He asks because prayer builds our faith, our relationship with Him, and is a way He uses to lead us to solutions. Walking with God is not one-way.
He wants us to be persistent in prayer not to exhaust us, but to help us know Him and His love for us.
This is what the good news of the gospel is all about.
Through God’s gift of salvation through Christ’s work on the cross, and because He lives, we can know God personally. We can receive help by way of His type of hope that fulfills at the best place and time, and not a wondering type of hope that thinks maybe He will come through some random day.
We dare not sit in a chair we know will collapse beneath our weight. We test for as much certainty and consistency as possible so that any time we sit in a particular type of chair, we can expect the integrity of that seat to hold us. We do the same test with God every time we pray, see how he takes care of us, and know again and again He is true and proves faithful regardless of what we face.
- Man forgets.
- God remembers.
- Man fails at times to follow through with consistency.
- God follows through and directs us with a strength of integrity that does not break under pressure either causing Him to give us some quick answer that eases and gets us out of the way, or flat out lies to us because He is too busy to address us appropriately:
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Numbers 23:19 (NIV)
Keep this in mind next time you need specific direction and provision from God about something. He is not forgetting what is mission critical to your life. I am living proof that God does not promise to be there and then fail regarding His word. He is working on every detail of need you have ever presented to Him. It might not seem like it sometimes, but He is.
If you need His assurance about something you are praying about, ask Him. He is not like the unjust and impatient judge. Expect His help for the next thing you need and ask Him specifically to meet the need you cannot fathom ever working out, for whatever reason.
No fancy prayers are necessary.
Just turn to Him.
Tell Him what is going on and what you do not understand or cannot get through today, this week, this year – God’s ability to intervene in our lives is whole, undivided, and unable to stumble or fall.
