Give God No Rest
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 62:6-7
Meditating on this text leads my mind down a multitude of rabbit holes. It raises all kinds of questions about the relationship between God’s sovereignty and men’s prayers. On one side I see the dangers of the hyper-charismatics who talk about “commanding God to do things, and decreeing things into existence.” The “little god” theology is abhorrent and aberrant. I don’t want to go there.
On the other side, I see those who have high regard for God’s sovereignty falling into a semi-fatalistic spirit and becoming prayerless or anemic in their prayer life. After all, since God has ordained all things that will be, what is the point or purpose of praying? Their human logic and reasoning cause them to rebel against the clear commands of the God they revere.
I don’t have the answer to all the questions surrounding the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. I’m content with the mystery. Maybe people smarter than me have it figured out. Good for them. What I know is Isaiah calls upon God’s people to pester God until He does something about fulfilling His promises.
Now, before you think that is an anomaly, unrepeated, and, therefore, without any application to our present life; consider that Isaiah isn’t alone in this approach to prayer. Moses and Abraham both practiced “not giving God any rest until…” Jesus gets in on this too. Luke records Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the form of a parable about a persistent widow who kept bothering a judge about getting justice. He wasn’t inclined to do what she wanted, but did it because she “beat him down with her continual coming.”
The point that Jesus is making is that God expects and anticipates the faithful to pray that way. Faith is expressed by persistent prayer. At least that is what Jesus thinks, and I tend to favor His opinions over my own.
You don’t need to understand how all of this fits together. You do need to know that God honors the prayers of those who are persistent. Those who give Him no rest. To use Jesus’ words, God listens to the saints that “keep bothering him.”
I strive to pray faithfully and pleasing unto my heavenly Father in the name of Jesus; trusting the Holy Spirit to intercede on my behalf when I fall short so I have hope of eternal life because of Jesus. I wonder if those who prayed for my salvation and my prayers for the salvation of my friends and family will be included with the prayers of the saints and offered as an incense before the throne of God during times of judgment and will bring fulfillment of God's promise of grace. Psalm 141:2, Revelation 5:8, Revelation 8: 3-4.
Thank you so much for your insight. I’ll keep on, keeping on!🙏🏻🙏🏻