Perseverance
The theme of today’s readings is perseverance, persistence and doing what it takes to “hang in there.” “Almighty God, Preserve the works of thy mercy, that thy Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of thy Name.” (Proper 24, Book of Common Prayer, p. 183) “As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:5) “And Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 4:5)
Yet, for what? Why do we persistently pray? Is God so hard of hearing or so hard-hearted that only persistence will finally break through and get His attention? No! God is not the problem — the problem is us. God is always more ready to hear us than we are to pray to Him. And our tendency is to refuse to accept what God seeks to do in us or reveal to us because we feel unworthy, or because of our internal malice, or because of our unwillingness to forgive some past hurt, or because of plain laziness.
So, this persistence in prayer to which our Lord calls us — though it is graphically caricatured by the “bothersome widow” in the Gospel story — is not a way of wearing down God’s indifference or unwillingness to help us. Our prayers are not intended to change the will of God, but to discover it. The aim of true prayer is to wrestle with and wear down the unjust judge within us, so that whatever is wrong in us might be made right by God’s grace, and the power to live effectively and gracefully may be continually released in us.
Jacob wrestling with the “being” at the Jabbok (Genesis 32:24-30) also shows us the great personal tenacity from which and through which wholeness comes. Jacob confronts his shadow and struggles through his pain and fear. He does not avoid it by running away, drugging it away, eating it away, working it away, exercising it away or even spiritualizing it away. Jacob enters it, embraces it and, in doing so, finds the blessing of God.
In these troubled times — with all the uncertainty in the economy, elections approaching and the continued war in Ukraine — pray unceasingly for wisdom for our leaders, compassion for those in need and for safety for all those in harm’s way. As we do this, we will begin to discover God’s will for us and that “peace which passes all understanding.”
