Scripture

The captain sent some Jewish Elders to Jesus begging Him to come and restore his servants health. And they, when they came to Jesus, they earnestly entreating Him, pleading.

~Luke 7:3-4, Weymouth

Quote

“I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk about, when I lie down and when I rise up. And the answers are always coming.”

~George Muller

The Legacy Standard Bible reads: And when they came to Jesus, they were earnestly pleading with Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.” This does include verse 5 which is not above, but notice the term earnestly pleading. The NASB uses the terms asks, and earnestly implored. We generally think of pleading as an emotional appeal that comes from the heart. I guess you could say a passionate plea. The bible is filled with mysteries; things we cannot unravel with our tiny and very limited finite minds. Example: Is light a wave or a particle? Scientist have argued for centuries going back and forth. Believing scientist believe it is both which makes it an antinomy, or an inexplicable fact. Another word for it would be “mystery.”

Why can’t we face the truth: there are some things we do not understand and prayer is one of them. Why would a God who loves us command us to ask Him for our daily bread? There is no doubt that great intercessors of the past did some pleading, some very earnest imploring. Why would the Jewish Elders beg Jesus to do something good? We all know that Jesus is good and He doesn’t need our encouragment to be so. It is a mystery. All I know is Jesus commands us to ask,“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” There is not a Calvinist alive that can explain this command. I was told Monday that we don’t ask, we don’t seek, we don’t knock and we don’t recieve. WOW! I happen to agree with James, “We have not because ask not.” I am a father and I want my children to ask me when they need something. I want them to talk to me. I want to hear from them. I may not give them everything they ask for even if I am able, but that is because I love them and in my judgment, what they ask for is not what they really need. This analogy works better with little children and not middle aged children, but you get the point.

According to Jesus, it is OK to ask and He did not upbraid the Jewish Elders for pleading. If the pleading had offended Him, don’t you think He would have said something? Perhaps pleading is a sign of immaturity because little children are prone to plead, but it may also indicate earnestness. Whatever you do, don’t stop asking.

Extra

Good crowd last night. Tina just texted: Keith’s dad was carried back to Summerford last night only to be sent back to the ER this morning. I think Keith is with him now at Decatur General. They are going to do a CT scan at 10:00. Billy fell as soon as they got him back to the home. Everyone else was doing fair to middling yesterday. Joyce was having a good day. Granny T. is always doing well. Charles Sanford was glad to see me: I had missed two weeks in a row. Bobby Vest had gone to Arby’s on the bus so I missed him and Billy had been sent to the ER. June visited Mrs. Edith on Monday and she is fair; lost a good bit of weight. She was telling June how good the food was their at the Cottage. If you believe that, I have some ocean front property in Limestone County I will sell you.

I cannot believe it is Easter and Fish Fry time. Charles pulled me aside last night to see if I had everything ordered. As it turned out, I didn’t. Good thing he checked. I had also forgotten to talk to Pat our cheif cook and I did that last night. This year has went by like a jet and April is flying by as well.

I have some loose ends I want to tie together today. I hope you have a good day.