Faith That Finally Catches

Does anyone still have a lawnmower with a pull cord? Most people have upgraded to a riding lawnmower, and a lot of folks mow their grass with a BMW or a Mercedes-Benz type of lawnmower; you know, one of those zero-turn types where you can race around your lawn at a whopping 19 miles per hour! And turn a corner on a dime flawlessly!

When I was in high school, one of my assigned chores was to mow our grass. And my dad had one of those pull-cord lawnmowers.  And I used to get so frustrated at that thing because it was very stubborn and refused to start most of the time. I’d pull the cord as hard as I could, and nothing would happen. So, I’d pull it again, and still nothing would happen!

And by the fifth pull, I’d be sweating and muttering a prayer that sounded more like a complaint to God! Then by the tenth pull, I wished my parents would sell the house and move to an apartment where someone else would mow the lawn. And finally, by the eleventh pull, the darn thing would cough, sputter, and start! My persistence would finally pay off!

And friends, that’s not only true with old, stubborn lawnmowers; it’s true for life, faith, and especially for prayer.

The Persistent Widow

In today’s scripture, we find Jesus sharing a parable about a very persistent lady. This woman is a widow, and she keeps coming before a judge to plead her case. And we don’t know what her case is about, but what we do know is that she’s not going to take NO for an answer.

Notice that Jesus finds it necessary to say that the judge is a difficult judge. Jesus says, [he] “neither feared God nor respected people.” So, basically, the judge was cold, heartless, and apparently a very self-centered man. And yet the widow keeps coming. Over and over and over again, she comes to plead her case.

Then, finally, the judge has had enough! He gives in to the widow not because he’s suddenly righteous but because he’s tired of her persistence. He just wants her to go away!

The judge says, “I’ll give her justice so she will stop bothering me. This woman is wearing me down.”

Then, Jesus brings his teaching point home. He says, “If this unjust judge listens to persistence, how much more will your loving Father hear your cries?” In other words, keep asking, keep praying, keep believing in a loving God.

When God Feels Silent

Friends, I wonder how many of us can relate to the widow? How many of us have cried out to God when the going is tough? How many of us have wanted to yell out to God, I’m still here! Are you listening?

Or sadly, how many of us have fallen into the trap of thinking God is way too busy to listen to us? So, we walk on, trudging through life all alone, barely holding it together. Carrying our heavy burdens seemingly without any help from God.

Friends, I say seemingly because God’s still there. God’s still there amid our chaos. We are choosing NOT to talk to God.

But here’s the thing, Friends, God knows that life is filled with reasons to lose heart. Life is like that. It’s just life, and it isn’t easy!

But here’s the thing. The Bible reassures us that Jesus knows how we feel. You see, in Jesus’ time, the people faced poverty and oppression under Roman rule. They faced a lot of social injustice. Indeed, widows often had no protection or assistance in life. They didn’t have a husband, so they didn’t have any money. And widows usually did not receive an inheritance from their husband’s estate.

Indeed, the inheritance was passed on to male heirs. And this lack of provision left many women in vulnerable positions. They were dependent on family or community support. Sadly, due to the patriarchal climate at the time, Torah law stipulated that the inheritance of a deceased male went to his sons. And in the absence of sons, the money would go to his daughters. And get this — if there weren’t any children in the family, the inheritance was given to the other male relatives instead of the deceased’s wife.

So, married women were considered to be property. They were a lower class of people who didn’t have a voice in court!

And yet Jesus uses this scenario as an illustration. Jesus says, “Don’t give up. Keep praying. Keep trusting. Keep knocking on God’s heart. Every single person is of sacred worth!

When faith is hard, just keep knocking.”

Faith Isn’t Amazon Prime

You know, the same is true with us today. We live in a culture of instant gratification; instant coffee, instant news, instant streaming. But faith isn’t Amazon Prime! God doesn’t always deliver what we want in two days.

Indeed, we face trials that test our endurance — the diagnosis that changes everything, the job search that keeps ending in rejection, the prayers for a child or a spouse that seem to be unanswered, the news headlines that make us wonder if the world has gone mad.

And when our prayers are met with silence, we might find ourselves crying out to God, “How long O God? How long!”

But here’s the truth, my dear friends. Even when God seems silent, God is still listening. God is with us!

So, when faith feels hard, just keep knocking!

The Power of Prayer

You know, prayer is one of the strongest tools that God has given to us. Prayer, after all, is communicating with our best friend, Jesus. Prayer is NOT about manipulating or convincing God to answer our prayers our way. But it is talking to God just like we would call on our best friend when life is coming at us too hard!

Hebrews 4:16 reminds us that, like the widow, we can approach God with confidence. It states, “Let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” That is to say, God is waiting for us, listening for us, like a loving parent, not an unjust judge. God desires for us to be bold and persistent in our asking.

Yes, sometimes the answer comes right away. Sometimes the answer seems to be no. And sometimes the answer is “Not yet.” But the promise that we are called to hang on to today is that God listens! God is walking through the muckiness of life, encouraging and strengthening us as we keep walking through what seems to be unanswered prayers.

That alone beckons us to be persistent. That alone calls us to persevere.

Persistence Builds Faith

James, who some biblical scholars claim was Jesus’ brother, had this to say about life. He states, “Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. [And] Let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

And friends, this lets us know that persistence isn’t just about getting what we want; it’s about becoming who God desires for us to be. It’s about transformation!

So, every time we keep praying, keep loving, keep forgiving, we grow in faith, resilience, hope, and love.

The Bamboo Tree

I’m reminded of a story about a Chinese bamboo tree that was often told in seminary. Think of seeds that are planted for a bamboo tree. Once planted, nothing seems to happen. But we water it, care for it, by fertilizing it and making sure the conditions are “just right” for growth.

For one year, two years, three years, even four years, there are no visible signs of growth above the ground. And most people would give up at this point and stop caring for the seeds.

But in the fifth year, something incredible happens. The seeds break forth, the plant shoots up, and it grows over 80 feet in just six weeks! So, the plant was growing all along — underground, building strong roots to sustain its sudden growth.

Faith works like that, too, my friends. We may not see the results right away, but that doesn’t mean God isn’t at work. Persistence in prayer grows deep roots of trust! And when the time is right, God will bring forth visible growth.

So how do we do it? How do we find the strength to be persistent and persevere?

Well, we can’t persevere by sheer willpower. We have to have help. We must call on the Holy Spirit to empower us to keep going.

The Holy Spirit’s Help

You see, when we call out to the Holy Spirit, we invite the very Spirit of God to breathe life into our weary souls. And the Spirit of God whispers to our hearts, “Don’t give up, just keep going.”

The Holy Spirit reminds us of what Jesus endured in the last three years of his life. Jesus persisted through betrayal, mockery, and death itself.

And through Jesus’ resurrection, he showed us that persistent love conquers everything — even the grave!

That’s the hope we have today as followers of Christ Jesus. That’s the hope that helps us to persevere.

The Holy Spirit, who is living in us, renews our strength and turns our despair into determination. The Holy Spirit reminds us to keep knocking on God’s heart, especially when faith feels hard.

Persistence as Partnership

So persistence is a partnership with the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to walk alone. Theologian Augustine once said, “Pray as though everything depended on God. [And] work as though everything depended on you.”

And it’s true! God provides the strength we need, and we are called to provide the persistence. So that together faith and action will produce hope — not only hope for ourselves, but hope for one another.

You see, our lives are a witness to one another because the way we persevere through difficult times reflects our faith and hope in God — even when we grow weary. Even when all we can do is cry out, “How long O God, how long?”

Indeed, we like the psalmist who muttered those words so long ago, reveal our steadfast faith in God, especially when we cry out in persistence!

A Modern Example of Perseverance

This reminds me of a story about a family featured on a CBS News story last year. Viraj Dhanda was a curious boy. He loved watching the stars come out at night and could spend hours building things out of blocks. But when it came to saying words like “Mom,” or “Dad,” or “I love you,” the words never came.

Viraj was diagnosed with autism at a young age. He was nonverbal, and for years, his parents tried therapy after therapy, teacher after teacher, and program after program, searching for a key to unlock his voice. His parents said, “Some days, it felt like progress. Other days, it felt like trying to open a door that just wouldn’t budge.”

But they loved their son, so they refused to give up. Viraj’s father decided that no matter how long it took, he would keep trying. So, every evening, after work, he sat beside his son — sometimes in silence, sometimes with tears — just waiting for a small sign of understanding. One day, Viraj’s dad noticed that even though his son didn’t speak, his eyes were bright with thought. And this gave his father hope that his son was intelligent and his mind was very much alive.

One day, while experimenting with a communication device, the father noticed that Viraj’s thumb started to move to press a key, and suddenly Viraj managed to select a letter, then he pushed another key, and yet another one! And while it was slow and painstaking work, it was a start.

Then, after weeks that slowly turned into months, Viraj was finally able to convey his thoughts that were hidden inside of him for all of his life. Viraj told his parents he loved them. And he found writing stories about science and space very inspirational.

Viraj began to show the world that his brilliance had always been there, trapped inside, until he found the ability to push the letters.

Today, Viraj is a teenager. He’s still quiet and thoughtful, but now he can communicate. And get this, he was recently accepted into MIT to study engineering and help others with disabilities find new ways to communicate.

Friends, perseverance isn’t about winning every battle. But it is about showing up again and again and again. Showing up with love, faith, and courage despite our life circumstances.

You know, Viraj’s father once said, “We didn’t discover my son’s brilliance. We just gave him a way to share it.”

And that is the quiet miracle of persistence. Indeed, when we refuse to give up, we create space for hope to take root, and we find the will deep inside us to continue to persevere.

When Faith Feels Hard

So, maybe today you are the one struggling and finding it difficult to persevere in life. Maybe you have been praying for something for a very long time. Maybe you’ve been praying for a mental, physical, or spiritual healing. Or perhaps it’s for reconciliation or finding a purpose in life.

And maybe all you’ve been hearing from God is crickets and silence. If that’s you today, my friend, remember the widow and hang on to this: Every prayer, every tear, every act of trust is heard by God who loves you deeply.

So, keep praying. Keep believing. Keep knocking on God’s heart even when faith feels hard because persistence is not an act of will. It is an act of faith that lets God know that no matter what comes our way, we still believe, we still trust in the One who has created this sacred earth, and lets us know we have sacred worth because of God’s abiding love.

Come, Holy Spirit, I pray it may be so. Amen.