Title: Prayer (Luke 18:1-8)
What is prayer and why do humans need to pray
A man named M. Roschwald said, "It is a human desire to have a God to whom we can pray." A. Chekhov said, "It's really comfortable to pray, even if you don't have faith." Man prays because he is anxious, because prayer is the closest comfort to man. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the reason that human beings need religion is because of prayer. As Chekhov puts it, prayer truly gives man infinite reassurance, even if the result is a second matter.
Hymn 482 depicts a man who has no choice but to pray.
my prayer time
That's the funniest time
To the worries of this world
call me who is entangled
My true wish is in front of you
Say it all right away
When you are sad because of great misfortune
you comfort me
Prayer, like hymn 482, is that I, who is entangled in the worries and worries of this world, disclose my circumstances to the Lord in an attempt to receive God's comfort. The Bible gives numerous examples of prayer. There is a prayer of thanksgiving, there is a prayer of meditation, and there is a prayer of praise and a liturgical prayer in worship. However, prayer is basically what we offer when we are suffering and difficult. So, today, I will focus on the urgency of human beings who have no choice but to pray, and the prayer we have to hang out from that urgency.
Prayer, in a nutshell, when humans encounter problems that cannot be solved by human abilities, when they reach the so-called “No Way Out” in English, that is, a dead end that cannot be overcome by human strength, open the way to God. It means begging for I remember about 10 years ago, but a professor at a medical school with the highest authority on "cancer" in Korea was diagnosed with cancer. When a patient had cancer, he used his extensive medical knowledge to diagnose and prescribe, but when he had cancer, he began to pray.
In the course of a lifetime of human life, we encounter countless barriers that cannot be overcome by human strength. When problems that cannot be solved by human strength appear like this, humans pray before God. We often see people praying even though they don't believe in God. Why should we pray even if we do not believe in God? It is because he encounters an existential situation in which he cannot get out of the way without praying. Man does not pray when he still thinks he can do something. However, no matter how prosperous or proud of God, when humans reach a point that cannot be overcome, they kneel before God. When faced with a problem that cannot be solved by worldly learning, worldly power, or worldly financial power, human beings have no choice but to pray. When we encounter something that we can't really cry and weep a lot, when we encounter something that we can't do our best or endure, we have no choice but to pray.
In front of prayer, no matter how well-ordered human logic is, it breaks down. No matter how stubborn the human heart is, it will crumble. In front of prayer, human pride is broken, and in a sense, universal reason is reserved before prayer. Prayer is an eternity in time, limited to neutralizing human strength and wisdom and allowing only God's grace and mercy to work. Prayer is the most obvious act of penance for man to return himself to his human place.
What is truly gracious to us humans who must despair in a limiting situation is the fact that God has opened the way for us to pray. Prayer is offered when we come to a limiting situation with our own strength, so if there is no prayer, we have to stop there. It is the end of the human path. However, God opens up opportunities and paths once more through prayer. Prayer is where the human path ends. Therefore, prayer is the last hope that human beings can have within their limits. Prayer is now the last door of hope when we can no longer do anything, the way is prepared for humans to finally knock on the possibility once more.
Prayer itself is already a grace of God, and God has given another grace on top of this. It means that He not only gave humans an opportunity to pray, but He also revealed in advance the way in which those prayers will be answered.
That is what today's text is about. To summarize the story of the Bible once again, there was a very arrogant judge living in a village who ignored the powerless. . But the disrespectful judge did not care about the widow's request at first. But the widow went to the judge every day and begged her. ask me to release my hunger Finally, the judge grants the widow's wish, even if it is bothersome.
This is what Jesus said. Even a judge who is unrighteous and disrespectful to people boldly and persistently seeks out the wishes of those who seek them, even if it is bothersome to them.
"How much more will God not avenge his elect, who cry out day and night, will he not be patient with them?"
“Will you be patient with us?” means, “Will you endure long without hearing our cry like that?”
There are other verses that teach prayer in a similar tone.
Ask, and it will be given to you.
Find it, and you will find it.
Knock on the door and it will be opened to you
Everyone who asks will get it.
He who seeks will find it.
It will be opened to him who knocks (Matthew 7:7).
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake? Are you?” (Matthew 7:8)
These words are actually the prayer methods taught by the One who will hear our prayers. “If you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him” is a counter-question from the One who is preparing to hear the prayer.
But this teaching on prayer does not mean that prayer is simply a compulsion. There are two important theological implications of this: the first is the mercy of God who hears our prayers, and the second is the trust the prayer has in the One who will hear us.
First of all, God who hears our prayers has compassion and mercy that cannot turn away from our prayers. In Psalm 123, a man in a dead end prays to God in a weeping voice.
"O Lord of heaven, I lift up my eyes to you. As the eyes of a servant wind on the hand of his master, and the eye of a maidservant on the hand of his mother-in-law, our eyes wait for the LORD our God, and wait for mercy on us. Be merciful to us, O LORD, for our bitter contempt abounds over us: the scorn of the peaceful and the contempt of the proud abounds in our hearts” (Psalm 123:1-4).
The most important part of this prayer is the repetition of verses 2 and 3, "Have mercy on us, O LORD." Western churches have a habit of always saying "Kyrie eleison" or "Lord, have mercy" after the prayer when praying. Lord, have mercy on me," and some people responded negatively, saying that this is Catholic. But this is not Catholic, it is the basis of prayer. If God is not merciful and merciful, our prayers are nothing but lamentations and murmurings. God hears our prayers with His mercy and compassion. We can pray because God is merciful and merciful.
Another theological meaning of prayer is complete trust in the One who hears the prayer. James 1:5-7 puts it this way:
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But ask in faith, and have no doubts. He who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. Don't think about getting anything from the Lord.
Prayer must be based on faith. Faith means trust in God. This is by no means a general, ideological trust. This trust, on the part of man, that is, on the part of the one who prays, means complete surrender to God and total surrender to his merciful will. All my possibilities are tested by the will of God.
A famous American tightrope acrobat showed the public a feat of crossing a rope between 50-story buildings. The cemetery asked the citizens. Do you think you will fall if you get on this line? Citizens clapped and shouted that they would never fall. The cemetery said again. Then who will ride this rope on my back? No one applied. But when the rider completely relaxed and surrendered himself to the stuntman, the stuntman was able to cross the line safely.
The late poet Nam-ju Kim said, "The weapon of a poet is innocence without measures. The weapon of those who pray is "faith without measures."
Dear saints,
I pray that you will become the prayer warriors who will receive God's comfort by telling the Lord every detail when we are sad because of great misfortune through the prayer of faith. Amen
prayer of repentance
Lord forgive me.
Forgive us our weakness. have mercy on me.
The harsh and difficult world will hear our prayers
Are you making it selfish?
Being chased by life, I unknowingly grab hold of only mine
Forgive us who are relieved to have more.
You must have this much until you go before the Lord.
endlessly asking for more
Please forgive us.
Our foolishness of repeating in vain,
Forgive me for my unbelief.
Thy will be done on this earth, I repeat it countless times.
O Lord, our lives are not the same as the prayers you have taught
You are walking in the opposite direction.
I search hard for you, but I really turn my life around
I am not following you.
I hope in prayer to you
make our lives right
Give me the courage to make concrete decisions and practice.
Lord, now each of us sincerely offers in silence
Hear repentance, and have mercy and compassion.
I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.