No Nenge-Nenge!

Rom. 12: 11, 12 …fervent in spirit, serving the Lord…continuing steadfastly in prayer

In St. Luke chapter 18, Jesus told the story. A widow had a serious problem because she was unjustly treated. She went to the judge to ask him to help her get justice, but the judge had no interest in the widow, or in justice, and just ignored the woman. But she kept coming back to him over and over again until he got tired of her and, just to get rid of her, dealt with her situation. So if an unjust judge is willing to respond to someone he doesn’t care about, you don’t have to worry about asking God several times for the same thing. Be persistent; keep coming because the Lord will not get tired of you. He will answer.

If there is one thing that I hate it is nenge-nenge; when someone keeps coming to me over and over with the same thing. Even the wise man Solomon speaks about how disgusting a nagging woman is! I hate to think that I am nagging God. A good friend of mine told me that she had stopped praying about an important matter. “God must be tired of me by now”, she said. And I know exactly how she feels. But God says “’No feel no way’. I will never get tired of hearing you”. Many times when we pray, we give up too easily. The Bible urges us to persevere in prayer.

But why do we have to keep on asking God when He could answer us from the first time we ask? Good question. There are many reasons God could choose not to answer immediately and the truth is, I don’t know what reason He might have in your case. He knew before you prayed that you had a problem. He could have solved it without you even having to ask. But He wants us to ask Him because it helps to build a relationship in which we trust Him and we depend on Him. It also strengthens our will to fight as Christians when things don’t come easily for us.

So keep praying even when the answer doesn’t seem to be coming. He may not answer when you want Him to, but He will answer at the right time. Trust God and be patient. Your answer is on the way.

Dear Lord, thank you that you never get tired of us when we pray. Thank you also for the promise that the answer is on the way, in Jesus name we pray, amen.