| Fainting In Prayer |
| by David A. DePra |
| And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought |
| always to pray, and not to faint, saying, There was in a city a |
| judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there |
| was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge |
| me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward |
| he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, Yet |
| because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her |
| continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the |
| unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which |
| cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell |
| you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the |
| Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Lk. 18:1-8) |
| In this passage we are told WHY Jesus was giving this parable |
| to His disciples: That they should always pray. But also that they |
| should "not faint." The word translated "faint" here, is ENKAKEO. |
| It means "to lack courage, lose heart, be fainthearted." (Vines |
| Dictionary of NT Words, page 400) |
| This, Jesus is saying, is possible to do in prayer. It is possible |
| to "faint" in prayer; to "lose heart" in prayer; to "lack courage" in |
| prayer. He is giving us the parable of the unjust judge so that we |
| will NOT do any of those things -- not "faint" in prayer. |
| The question which must be asked is this: How does "fainting |
| in prayer happen? -- I mean, practically? What does it really mean |
| to "lose heart?" What could cause that? Why would we faint in |
| prayer? Jesus is giving us a parable that we might "not faint" in |
| prayer, it must be because fainting is not only a possibility, but a |
| very real possibility and temptation. |
| When God Doesn't Answer |
| There is only one reason why we might be tempted to "faint" in |
| prayer. You probably know what it is if you have a serious prayer |
| life with God. You have probably faced in many times. It is, in fact, |
| really the only reason we might "faint" or lose heart in prayer before |
| God. |
| Have you guessed it yet? The one reason we might faint in |
| prayer is if God does not answer. Right? Sure. We pray and pray. |
| Perhaps with tears. This may go on for weeks, months, or even |
| years. And no answer. Nothing. As far as we can sense, God has |
| not even heard us. And if He has, He hasn't done anything about |
| our prayer. In time, we may feel like "fainting" in prayer. We may |
| feel like giving up. |
| Now, if you haven't ever faced this spiritual situation, you may |
| not be able to grasp the seriousness of the parable Jesus was |
| telling. If you are a person who gets God to answer your prayers |
| immediately, every time, in a discernable way, then more power to |
| you. But it is more than likely that you are eventually going to see |
| that season pass. You will eventually enter a season in which God |
| doesn't show Himself very much. Some of these spiritual seasons |
| can last for years -- some even for many years. |
| A spiritual season in which God doesn't show Himself, and |
| gives you no sense of His presence, and no answer you can |
| discern, is the one Jesus was talking about in the parable of the |
| unjust judge. The widow in the parable continually came to the |
| unjust judge, but was refused. In the middle of this, it probably |
| seemed like things were hopeless. It would have been easy, |
| perhaps even understandable, for her to "faint." |
| We need to catch the cultural and historical significance of Jesus' |
| use of a widow in this parable. Women, in those days, were really |
| only as capable as were their husbands. They couldn't own |
| property like a man, and couldn't work like a man. They had few of |
| the rights which men had -- culturally as well as legally. So if you |
| were a widow, you were the most helpless person imaginable. You |
| had no rights of your own, and were pretty much incapable of even |
| earning a decent living. You had to rely on people such as this |
| "unjust judge" to help you when trouble came up, for you had no |
| husband. |
| So what we have here is a helpless widow who is not capable |
| of helping herself. She doesn't have what she needs, and has no |
| way of getting it. She appeals to an unjust judge. But no matter |
| how many times she appeals to him, and no matter how hard she |
| pleads her case, he won't do anything to help her. He just doesn't |
| care. |
| Silence and Darkness |
| Have you ever been tempted to think of God like that? Afterall, |
| God does dare to be silent to us when we think we need Him the |
| most. He does dare to allow us to think Him indifferent and callous |
| to our suffering. And it can be tough to deal with when God chooses |
| to act that way with us. It can test you for all you are worth in Jesus |
| Christ. |
| When God deals with us in that way, it is easy to forget that if we |
| cannot discern where God is working, that it does not mean that He |
| is not working. He is simply doing it in a way we cannot see. And |
| actually, that's good. For who would want a God who was so limited |
| that He could only work in ways we could see, or do things we could |
| understand? But no. God is at work just as much when we CAN'T |
| see Him as He is when we CAN. It's just that when we CAN see Him |
| we don't need faith. When we can't see Him we DO. |
| Jesus is telling us is that it is NORMAL for it to "seem" like God |
| will never answer. It is NORMAL. It is normal for us to pray and |
| pray, but to receive no answer in return which we can discern. |
| How do we know it is NORMAL? Because Jesus would not be |
| exhorting us "not to faint" unless it was normal to be in a situation |
| where "fainting" was our natural inclination. God would have not |
| needed to inspire a passage about the need to always pray and |
| not faint, if He did not know there would be many times when we |
| would be tempted to do the opposite. God has already anticipated |
| our problems and trials in life. He knows us better than we know |
| ourselves. |
| There are times in the Christian walk when prayer becomes |
| such a burden that you can hardly bear to pray. Perhaps you |
| have so often prayed about something, and received no apparent |
| answer, that you can hardly bring yourself to pray about it again. |
| Or maybe you have reached the point where you begin to doubt, |
| not God, but your ability to reach Him. You begin to search for |
| reasons as to why God isn't answering: Maybe you don't have the |
| faith. Maybe you have some "secret sin" you have committed, a |
| sin so "secret" even you don't know about it. Maybe THAT'S why |
| God won't answer. Maybe you were wrong to expect God to really |
| care about this and you should simply resign yourself to failure |
| and defeat. |
| But no. It is precisely at that point where we will either FAINT in |
| prayer, or endure in prayer. We need to remember the promises |
| of God. He has never told us that we needed to find some secret |
| way to reach Him. He has already reached us. And if we will "faint |
| not" and stand by faith, we will see His answer. If that was the case |
| with the "unjust judge," it certainly will be the case with our totally |
| just Father in heaven. |
| Seeing It Through |
| The widow in the parable could have easily given up. She |
| could have resigned herself to the fact that there are just some |
| things in life which we must accept. But had she done that, Jesus |
| would have called it "fainting," or "losing heart." And she would |
| have never seen justice. |
| We too are faced with that choice. We can say, "I guess I might |
| as well face the fact that God isn't going to answer me. I may as |
| well accept things as they are, and assume that they ARE God's |
| answer." Indeed, we can make the choice to give up believing |
| God cares enough to give us wisdom, show us His will, and begin |
| living under the assumption that His silence means we should |
| accept things as they are. But wait. Ask this question: If that's what |
| God wants us to do, then why did Jesus give us this parable? |
| Jesus gave this parable "that men ought always to pray, and |
| not faint;" not give up or lose heart. Does that sound like we should |
| assume that God's silence means we must stop praying? Like we |
| should resign ourselves to circumstances? If that was the message |
| of the parable, we would hardly have been told about a widow who |
| eventually "wears out" an unjust judge because of her continual |
| coming. Instead, we would have been told about a widow who |
| finally "got the message" -- that silence always means, "No. Go |
| away." |
| If this parable of the unjust judge has one message, it is this: |
| Do not give up in prayer. Do not. No matter how unjust things |
| seem to be, and no matter how hopeless it seems to wait for an |
| answer from God, keep on praying. Jesus is promising that God |
| WILL answer. |
| God's Will, Not Mine |
| Now, notice a distinction here. Jesus is NOT saying that God |
| will give you the answer YOU want. No. He is saying that God will |
| give you the answer HE wants. Jesus never tells us, if we put all |
| the scripture on the subject together, that we are supposed to |
| "hold out" for what we want from God. But He does tell us that |
| God ALWAYS answers. And if we will refuse to faint, and will |
| instead persevere in prayer, we will find and know His will for us |
| regarding the issue at hand. |
| If this parable of Jesus is to have any meaning at all, it means |
| we should never give up on God and resign ourselves to what is |
| happening to us. No. What is happening to us MAY be the will of |
| God. He MAY want us in it. But we should pray about it until we are |
| sure. If our hearts our open and we have surrendered our will, then |
| we will not only eventually KNOW, but we will know that we know. |
| Jesus said that even an unjust judge will answer that kind of |
| persistence. How much more will our Father in heaven. |
| Jesus, of course, is not comparing God to an unjust judge. He |
| is not telling us that if we nag God to death that we will get out of |
| Him what we want. No. He is assuring us that if we "faint not," |
| God will answer -- because He is NOT an unjust judge. If we |
| refuse to believe all of the suggestions which come to us when |
| God is silent, and persevere in prayer by faith, we will see God's |
| answer. Everytime. |
| The Ways of God |
| Why does God work like this? If He has promised to answer |
| our prayers, then why all this difficulty? Why do we even have to |
| have such a thing as "waiting on God," or a possibility such as |
| "fainting in prayer?" Why doesn't God just answer us and get it |
| over with? |
| Well, you see, we think that the "answer" is what the issue is all |
| about. But it isn't. God may not be after the "answer" at all. To Him, |
| the "answer" may be the anti-climax. The REAL purpose of God |
| may be in the struggling, waiting, and endurance which I must face. |
| God may have, in fact, orchestrated this entire issue so that I am |
| faced with the possibility of fainting in prayer and giving up. He |
| may actually WANT it that way. THAT may be what this is all |
| about: Overcoming my doubts. |
| Do you see? I think that I'm in something terrible, and I'm seeking |
| a way out in the will of God. I ask Him over and over what I need to |
| do to get out. Or I ask Him to deliver me. This, I think, is the answer |
| to my problem. It is the thing I seek. But God may be saying to me, |
| "You think the goal here is to get out of the trial. But My goal is to |
| keep you in. And My silence to you on the matter is what I need to |
| do right now to keep you in. I want you to deal with My silence. I |
| want you to face all the things in yourself which arise when you are |
| tested in such a manner. THAT is what I'm after. THAT is why I've |
| orchestrated this whole thing." |
| Again, we think that the thing we are praying about is IT. We |
| think THAT is the issue -- how God is going to answer. But often it |
| is not. The real issue is often the process we are going through |
| over IT. We look towards the end of our trial -- to when we will |
| receive the answer. God is more concerned about the process we |
| experience getting there. He is more concerned about what we are |
| becoming then He is about anything else. |
| God Will Answer |
| God has promised us that He will answer our every prayer. But |
| on HIS terms. That means He is going to do His will, not ours. And |
| the Truth is, if God is going to do HIS will in our lives, we have to be |
| made fit for it. We have to BECOME His will if we are going to be |
| able to live IN His will. That's why God does things the way He |
| does them. That's why He often leaves us in silence. He is saying |
| to us, "I want to answer your prayer. But you must first become My |
| will. Then you will both understand what I'm doing, and be able to |
| live in it." |
| God has many purposes for what He does in our lives. Some of |
| them He will show us in time. Some of them He will never show us. |
| But if we push through all of our fainting and discouragement and |
| doubt, and stand fast in His faithfulness, we will know what God |
| wants us to know. And we will become what God wants us to |
| become. The process will have conformed us more to Christ. |
| In the parable of the unjust judge, Jesus was showing us that we |
| must not give up praying about the issue which God has us in. We |
| must not resign ourselves -- in a spirit of unbelief -- to the suggestion |
| that it is of no use praying, for God won't answer. Rather, Jesus is |
| promising us that if we persist in prayer -- not to get our will, but the |
| will of God -- that God will answer. He will not fail to answer those |
| who cry out to Him night and day. |