Many Times, Many Ways - Part 5

Part 1 –The character of our communicative God!

Part 2 –God’s good for us in silence or the quiet voice 

Part 3 –God is able and willing to speak over anxiety, one hindrance

Part 4 – Whatif we cease to pray? Can we thwart God’s will? The role of prayer in guidance

The long night… our candle waivers in wafts of fear as we wait for the starlight of God’s voice to lighten the night. We know we need to keep our candle burning. But in the evening, fear creeps. What if we don’t do enough? Don’t pray enough? Cease marching around Jericho on the sixth time? Cease praying just before the light comes? Last week, we saw that while prayer is an important aspect of seeking guidance, our ceasing or fervency in it will not thwart God’s best for us. We need not fear.

But there is a second question, related, on the other side of the coin. What role does our perseverance play? Is it important at all? We looked at objective reasons to pray, but here let’s address the more emotional aspect of it. These questions arise from a place of fear. What if I don’t do enough? What if I don’t pray enough? Will I miss something? Will I fail? Will I disappoint God? Will I somehow end up with Plan B, second best? Fear springs from a lack of assurance of God’s love (1 Jn. 4:18). Fear springs from a small view of God. Rest, rest. Rest in his hands, in his plan. Yes! Strive in prayer. Strive in perseverance. Keep your candle burning! Watch and pray! But do so from a place of confidence, in his strength. Do not act from a place of fear, from your own strength, to move the world from your own power. A candle gasps in the waft of fear.

The question is really one of fear and faith. For our perseverance speaks of our faith. For example, that strange (and scary) story in 2 Kings:

“Then Elisha said [to Joash the king of Israel], ‘Shoot,’ and he shot. And he said, ‘The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! … Strike the ground with [the arrows].’ And [the king] struck three times and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him and said, ‘You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times’” (2 Kings 13:14-19).

As a legalistic, serious, and perfectionist young Christian, this story terrified me. I was afraid I’d end up with Plan B. What if I didn’t pray hard enough? What if I ceased praying before I should? (And when do I know?) How was the king supposed to know he had to strike five or six times? God didn’t make it clear! How easy it is to fail!

But that was not the point. The point was he was half-hearted, didn’t demonstrate faith, and didn’t believe God would deliver Syria. It wasn’t his action or lack of action; it was his lack of faith. So, too, we read the startling, “And [Jesus] did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief” (Matt. 13:58). This is a comfort (and in other ways a warning!)—it is not whimsical notion or cat-and-mouse or guess-what-I’m-thinking game with God. It is not "You must shoot five times or else, even though I didn't make it clear." Nor is it even about the shooting. It is about our heart orientation.  It is whole-heartedly versus half-heartedly. The danger is not “Do we stop short? Do we do enough?” but “Do we believe?” The right doing will flow out of the right belief.

It does reframe the question. We no longer have to frantically ask, “Did I do enough? Pray hard enough?” Fear of failing comes from small faith, belief in a small and miserly God. A big view of ourselves. A view that we have a contractual-relationship with God, like a genie. I put in X, he pumps out Y. I rub the bottle and do such-and-such, he grants the request. Moreover, the focus is on self (what I, me, myself do), not on our great God. There is the dangerous trap of introspection, distraction, where we cave in on self and our eyes are removed from our big God.  

Rather, perfect love casts out fear (1 Jn. 4:18). Faith knows our God. Faith knows his compassion, his goodness, his heart. Faith knows grace, grace that covers even a lack of faith. There are cases of God working miracles in cases of unbelief. John 5, for example, when the man healed did not show any indication of belief beforehand and actually turned Jesus in afterwards. Even at the raising of Lazarus, Martha and Mary believed, but it seems they did not have the faith that he could raise Lazarus again. Grace keeps the candle burning!

In addition, faith knows even faith is a gift from God. Rather than a “Did I do enough?,” we ask “What is my heart orientation toward God?” And there is either a grace-filled Spirit’s conviction or a faith rest of deep peace. The former will be accompanied by the promise of “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24), and “who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful” (1 Cor. 1:8-9), Jesus Christ the author and perfector of our faith (Heb. 12:2), “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely” (1 Thes .5:23). There are times to ask the searching heart question; it can be the Spirit’s conviction to prod us to a deeper walk. I’m not sure those in Nazareth or King Joash had the level of faith to ask if they lacked faith. It is love and faith that keeps the candle burning. Then, when wrapped in love and with faith, the question and fear of ceasing just slips away. The candle burns while waiting for the stars, but burning from his wick, not our own waning wax.

The failure to shoot was not a "You didn't guess what was on my, the Lord's mind," but a half-hearted trust. A full trust propelled the Israelites' seventh march around Jericho. A full trust will help us persevere in prayer. Trust--the God who allows us the dignity to act, to be causal agents. This calls us to seek him, to pray, to not be apathetic or passive. Trust--the God who reveals what we need to know, and doesn't make us guess. Trust--the God whose grace will cover. Trust--the God who is big enough and powerful enough to grant the means as well as the end. The God who will complete the good work he began in us. If we are to march around Jericho seven times, God will secure that in his sovereign power and wisdom. Trust--the God who is wise enough to take our prayers from our limited wisdom and work them out for our best good and his glory. Trust--The God whose desire is for communication in prayer, to have an ongoing relationship. If we see his heart and his desire, we will respond by keeping our candle burning. We not only need not fear our failure, but we are given reason and power to persevere! Keep our candles burning!