Be Still - January 30, 2023

Jeremiah 10: 19 Woe to me because of my injury! My wound is incurable! Yet I said to myself, “This is my sickness, and I must endure it.” (NIV)

Most problems don’t get better by being ignored.*

There is plenty of scriptural precedent for bringing our troubles to God. In Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18: 1-8), we might suppose that persistence is a key factor in getting relief. But Jesus may have been advocating less for persistence and more for bringing your complaint to the proper authority. If an unjust judge can bring you justice, how much more can you count on your heavenly Father to hear your pleas?

Paul certainly doesn’t appear to have been of the “persistent school of thought.” He prayed three times for deliverance from his mysterious “thorn in the flesh” and then it seems he just learned to live with it.  From nagging to being content after three tries, on the persistence spectrum these two examples are still far removed from Jeremiah’s lament. Rather than ask for healing – whether many times or three – he has just decided to live with his affliction.

While I wouldn’t advise anyone to follow Jeremiah’s example, I'm not sure if Paul or the widow should be the model for asking God to deliver us from our problems, either. Is there comfort in accepting what we can’t change? Is it wrong to give up hope?

As someone said, “There is no magic formula for answered prayer.”* The Bible tells us that God hears the cry of the righteous (Psalm 34: 15); those who ask in Jesus’ name (John 14: 13); those who ask believing (Mark 11: 24); and those who ask according to God’s will (I John 5: 14).* If these conditions are met, in a faithful and appropriately persistent manner, God will answer your prayers. His answer may be immediate delivery; or perhaps he will ask you to wait. He may choose to answer by helping you live an abundant life in spite of your “thorn in the flesh.” Whatever his answer, “Woe to me!” doesn't seem like it should be our final cry to God.

Faithful servants have a way of knowing answered prayer when they see it, and a way of not giving up when they don’t.*