Faith cannot survive without hope that God will hear and answer prayer. ‘I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living’ (Psalm 27:13). Prayer is the breathing of the soul that has been brought to spiritual life. The oxygen of God’s favour is what keeps us alive. No one goes on asking when there is no hope of an answer. But we pray because the character of God does not change. The Lord has told us to pray constantly. He has allowed us to call him Father, and nature teaches that even fallen earthly fathers respond favourably to their children’s requests.
As we come to prayer we reflect on God’s readiness to hear us, his willingness to answer us; these are what determine whether we go on asking, and what level of expectation we have that he will answer us. How do our prayers sound in the ears of the Lord? Are they welcome? Is he sympathetic to them, even if he does not answer straight away? The one who prays reads the heart of God to assess what answer he will receive, just as the widow weighed up what the judge would do with her case. He reminds himself of all the promises given to encourage prayer, but he does not treat them as bare statements. Behind all those promises is a Father’s heart and his lovingkindness towards his children. That is the source of all those promises, and that is stable, reliable, unchanging. There is no limit to what can come out of that heart. The widow had very little reason to believe she would be heard, and yet, finally, she received an answer.
Wrestling in prayer is wrestling with our view of the character of God. Does he hear individuals? Does he love his children? Does his love for them fluctuate and dissipate over time? Can we wear down his love by repeated sins? No. If he has once taken us as his children, then he is committed to us forever. Though he disciplines us, he does not forsake us. Does his delay mean that he will never answer? No. We continue to watch for the slightest encouragement as Elijah, who waited for the rains to come and saw no sign six times, but knew his prayer was answered when, the seventh time, he saw the smallest of clouds rise on the horizon.
God insists on prayer. It must be a humble approach to him that recognises our complete dependence on him, and our total inability to supply our own needs. It must acknowledge that he is over us and be ready to leave our requests with him, believing that he is kindly disposed towards us. Everything that we need must pass through his willingness to bless us. We go on asking even when we are under discipline, because we believe that behind his frown is still a Father’s heart of love.
Prayer is part of the good fight of the faith. We refuse to be silenced before our God, and we turn to him again and again no matter how hard things become. Our best help, our only help, comes from the Lord. To whom else can we go? Those on earth have no concern for our eternal souls, the most precious part of us. They don’t recognise the problem, and they don’t begin to know how to provide a solution. When we come to Christ we come to the one who fully understands our need, and the depth of our predicament, and who has personally laid down his life to deliver us. Only he can deal with our spiritual enemies, we cannot overcome on our own.