Scripture

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

~Philippians 4:6, NASB

Quote

God loves importunate prayer so much that He will not give us much blessing without it.

~ Adoniram Judson

I had to look up the word importunate. I have seen it before but don’t use it and so I forgot what it means. It means persistence almost to the point of annoyance. It is best described in Jesus parable of the unjust judge in Luke 18...”For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” Some synonyms are persistent, intreating, persevering, unrelenting and supplication. What is supplication? Supplication comes from the Latin verb supplicare, which means “to plead humbly.” While a supplication is often thought of as a prayer to God, it can logically be applied to any situation in which you must entreat someone in power for help or a favor. I have a growing burden for the folks in the Ukraine and also the Russian who are not in favor of this war. After 63 years of being a Christian, I am still struggling in my prayers. I rely on the Bible heavily and I was reading the prayers of Daniel and Nehemiah to help me formulate my prayer. Their prayers are filled with supplication. They beseech, intreat, implore, beg and plead in their prayers. All of these are aspects of supplication. After a brief study of their prayers, I felt better about mine.

It is enough to drive a Calvinist to drinking but for some strange reason, our Heavenly Father is not offended by our supplication. I know what the Calvinist say, “We don’t have to beg God for anything. He knows what He is doing and He doesn’t need our input.” I agree that God is Sovereign and that He is all knowing, and I do not understand prayer, at least the dynamic of prayer, but Jesus taught us to pray. He encouraged us to supplicate and so did Paul. How do we reconcile His teachings on prayer with God’s sovereignty? We don’t. We don’t understand prayer any more than we understand what God is doing in the present and why He is allowing carnage and bloodshed. I’m not just talking about this tragic war, I am talking about the millions of abortions performed in the Western world. Yes we do know the long-term outcome; ultimately Jesus will be revealed to all the world and every knee will bow. The story of Joseph is so prophetic: there was his suffering and then his exaltation and then he becomes the savior of the known world. His family goes to Egypt, and they see his glory; not to mention, that every knee bowed to him. Yes, we know how it will end but what about now? It is easy for those of us in the West to be complacent to the suffering going on in the East and we can give flippant answers like, “Don’t worry, everything will come to a good end.” Nehemiah had it made in the shade. He was the kings cup bearer. He lived in royal surroundings with hot water, indoor facilities, sauna, and a meal ticket to the royal dinning kitchen. He lived in luxury. Why not send a letter to the poor Jews in Judaea and tell them to cheer up because everything would work out in the end? By the way, that is not what Nehemiah did: he had a growing burden to pray, and he supplicated before God and the king.

Don’t pay any attention to these know-it-alls. Pray your heart out. That’s what David did, and the LORD never upbraided him for doing it.

Extra

June and I went to see Willowdean after Christy’s dad COLS but they wouldn’t let us go up. These hospitals have been a pain in the rear since this covid mess began. We are headed to Huntsville in just a bit to check on Kay Edmonson. I hope that let us go up to see him. It all depends. When you have a Barney Fife at the desk who wants to show their authority, you will encounter problems.

June says cold wind for tomorrow. The high is 39 and then two extremely cold nights. I prefer the 50’s and 60’s.