Sermon for Saturday
And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. Luke 18:1
Some things are much easier said than done. Take the people who tell you that when you have reached the end of your rope, you should tie a knot and hang on. Those are the same people who have never been at the end of the rope you have reached, who have no idea how much you are suffering, how many tears you have shed, how hopeless and empty everything seems. Yes, those people you can ignore, they are trying to help but they can`t relate. So it is a great comfort to us, when we reach the end of our rope to know that, instead of holding onto a knot, we can hold onto the Lord Jesus, and know that he can relate with our trouble.
The parable Jesus told was of a woman who was so persistent that she persuaded a judge to agree to her case. Jesus reminded his disciples that God does not object to our continuing to bear before the Throne of Grace our trials and troubles. He hears them every time. In His wisdom, He does not always grant our request on the first or on the 101st asking. But He hears. And He cares. He knows all about our troubles. And He doesn’t mind when we continually bring our weighty issues before His throne. As our text reminds us, we need to continue praying and never to give up.
How do we know that the Lord Jesus can relate to our troubles? The four Gospel accounts describe His life, marked with grief and caring, marked by sympathy for the suffering, and at the end, marked by bearing all of our griefs and carrying all of our sorrows. Did you realize that your troubles were part of the load that Jesus bore to Calvary? Did you know that the heartache and the anguish you feel was already felt at the cross? Let us never doubt that the Lord Jesus can understand exactly what we are going through, and let us never cease bringing our burdens to Him in prayer.
When we realize just how much the Saviour entered into our troubles at Calvary, we can hold onto Him the more eagerly today, and know that He has already won our victory. -Jim MacIntosh