By MARIA SERMERSHEIM
MEDITATIONE IGNIS
Last year, I wrote that we should grow in confidence in prayer so that we “pray for the moon.” That article was more focused on gaining the confidence to ask for big things. Thanks be to God, he has increased my faith and confidence; so now, I hold him to account for his promises. Consider the Lord’s promises: return from exile, resurrection, redemption and the like. God is in the business of putting things right. And I believe God keeps his promises, so I pray for unity of mind and heart; I strive for peace; and I expect him to follow through. In prayer, I lovingly and stubbornly hold God to account for his promises; and I want to encourage you, dear reader, to embrace that same boldness because the Lord commanded it. Remarkably, it is the prayerful attitude that he wants us to have.
When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he taught them the Our Father and then told the story of a man who would give bread in the middle of the night to his neighbor, if not on account of their friendship, at least because of his persistence (Lk 11:5-8). Further, he said, “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Lk 11:9). The Gospel according to Matthew recounts the same words of Jesus, and concludes (as does Luke) with the comparative analogy: “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him” (Matt 7:11). Jesus’ words alone are enough to embolden me. But if I needed further encouragement, as I often do in my weakness, I follow the example of the Psalms; take your pick of nearly any one, and you will find this attitude of imploring trust. Even outside of Scripture, Jesus taught this prayerful boldness to Julian of Norwich in visions, from which she learned that “this is what our Lord wants—that both our prayers and our trust should be equally abundant; for if we do not trust as much as we pray, our prayers do not fully honor our Lord and we also hinder and harm ourselves;” and she says this is because “we do not truly know that our Lord is the foundation from which our prayers arise.” He is the one who gives us the grace to ask.
Jesus encourages us “to pray always without becoming weary” by telling the parable of the persistent widow who obtained justice from a judge “who neither feared God nor respected any human being” simply by persevering (Lk 18:1-2). Jesus concluded, “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily” (Lk 18:7-8). I would like to conform my life to the Gospel in all respects, so God better buckle up for my incessant begging; but my attitude is no surprise to him because he made me, and my requests are no surprise to him because he made those promises.
By his own account, I am fully justified in holding God to account! He made promises, and he is the only omnipotent and everlastingly faithful one able to keep them. Indeed, I am probably more impatient and sassy in these requests than I should be sometimes. But I trust his promises; so I trust his healing hand will cure me of that, too.