When Prayer Becomes a Martial Art

Prevailing with God is not for the faint of heart. 

We often associate prayer with quiet reflection and being submissive and receptive in God's presence. And there is much to be said for that kind of spiritual practice.

But as some of our lectionary texts from last week suggest, there is also a need for prayer to be about bold persistence and perseverance.

The Genesis 32 story of Jacob's wrestling match with an emissary from God is a case in point. Jacob had been seeking divine blessing all his life, and had earlier engaged in deception to receive that blessing from his dying father.

He was then forced to flee for his life to escape his older brother Esau's wrath, who sought revenge upon realizing that his younger brother had stolen the blessing that was rightfully his. Now decades later, Jacob is about to be reunited with his brother, who is fully armed and able to exact retribution for what happened years before.

Jacob is terrified, and spends the night separated from his family and his flocks, wrestling with his fears and with the possibility of reaping the consequence of the manipulation he had engaged in, yet still wanting whatever of God's blessing he can still manage to gain for himself.

What he gets after an exhausting round of wrestling with a God-sent man is a new name, Israel, "One who prevails with God," replacing the name Jacob, which means "deceiver." Meanwhile, he gives up many of his possessions as a peace offering to his older brother, trading one kind of wealth in hopes of another.

God clearly honors his persistence, and the seriousness with which he seeks God's blessing, this time the right way.

In the Luke 18 lectionary text Jesus tells the story of a widow who persisted in seeking justice from a disinterested judge until he finally gave in rather than having to be bothered by this persistent woman.

This parallels another story in Luke, chapter 11, where a man asks a neighbor to borrow some bread to feed a guest who had arrived unexpectedly in the middle of the night. Again, the person is rewarded for his boldness in asking for much needed help to feed a hungry friend.

A lesson we can draw from these stories is that prayer is to be a bold engagement with God, an intense collaboration in the mission of God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven. It is not a spiritual practice for the half-hearted or the passive, but for those willing to combine a persistent faith with passionate action.

"Then the Lord said, 'Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?'”                  - Luke 18:6-8 (NLT)