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A Lesson on Being Annoying
A widow was without standing, or influence. She was without protection, means, or options. She was easy prey to anyone who wanted to take advantage of her. And often, widows were the subject of much abuse and neglect. Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. Isaiah 10:1-2. Have you ever been at that level of despair? Fear. That is what I feel when I place myself in her shoes. Unbelievable fear. And fear is usually an emotion that is the antecedent to action. You run, or you fight. The widow in this story was brought down to a level of pleading repeatedly with a judge; a corrupt man who is identified as not fearing God and not caring for men. I am sure when the widow approached him asking for his favor, he was not kind to her. And yet she continued to fight, to ask for freedom from her adversary, from the person who was keeping her in bondage, a hostage to fear. She continued because she believed her circumstance could be different. She is called the persistent widow in the heading in my bible. Persistent because despite being treated, undoubtedly, poorly every time she returned to the judge, she still returned. And because of her persistence, because of her repeated pleas, because she believed that with enough asking things could change, she was able to persuade a corrupt judge into granting her request. I plead with God…maybe not as desperately as I should…but I pray to be free from bondage in very specific areas of my life. My desire is to continue asking until I am free, because this story has a moral…if you are asking, then you have faith that it will happen. If you repeatedly pray the same prayer, it is because you have hope that at some point in time, things will change and your desires will be granted. The widow here believed and she didn’t give up, even when dealing with a jerk of a judge. When we approach God with our prayers for freedom, He is loving and kind. He couldn’t love us anymore than he does at this minute. And I believe that He will grant my prayer, free me from bondage, but in the meantime, may my faith in the fact that I believe it will happen, bring glory to Him. May He find faith in me when He returns to earth.
“Can you play with me?” says my daughter in 10 second intervals for 5 minutes straight. Usually while I’m in the middle of something, or have crashed on the couch in a lump of lazy flesh. She stares at me with her big beautiful blue eyes and smiles with her toothless face, pleading to my heart like a begging puppy. She doesn’t let up until I answer, and my answer must be given with authority and finality, otherwise the persistance will continue.
I am guilty of not asking God in this manner. My daughter nows that even if I say no, I still love her. She still feels rejected and her boredom ensues, but I am no different. In fact I am more cowardly, because I will give up on my prayers for fear of feeling rejected. I’ll take the assumed answer of “no” before I give God a chance to answer on his own.
Thanks for the reminder and encouragement to be faithful and hopeful in prayer. You rock Jen!!!
“And fear is usually an emotion that is the antecedent to action” This phrase hit me like a ten ton brick. When I am afraid of failure, love. life. or a situation I usually will freeze or stop. I just don’t do anything. It was good for me to be reminded that action will wipe away or chase away the fear. Prayer draws me close to the one who loves me beyond my imagination or understanding. Thank you God for listening and answering.
When I was a junior at the darlington school Mike Muschamp was an assitant coach
and his brother Will was`a soph so I guess we have a connection.I really like Penny’s
post , fear has really been eating me alive and some recent actions are direct results
of my fears.Prayer has been the only constant I have had in the past 60 days of recovery
from a life of addiction.Since my baptism some of my actions have been well ,awful.I continue
with even more prayer, I know the old me of fear , weakness,and selfishness wants back
in and evil has a bunch of demons working overtime to get in, my defense is prayer , prayer
for his love . thankyou lord
Wow! These verses were for me today! I have been very sick for the past two months. This has been very challenging because I have three small children and our family is in the process of getting started working with a new ministry. From the beginning God has given me scripture and encouraging words from other things that I’ve read that have given me a peace that he is going to take care of this sickness and I will get better. I had a breakdown moment last night where I began to wonder if I will ever get better, after all it has been two months and I’m still the same. I was doubting everything I’ve felt God telling me so far. When I came to this page today and read what the scripture was, I knew it was for me. God might not work as quickly as I would want, but I can keep praying for healing to show my faith in him.