Repost from Aug 18 2005

In Luke 11 he treats what we call “The Lord’s Prayer” a bit differently from Matthew. I like Luke’s treatment, not so much because of 2-4, but what he includes following it. I tend to get an inferiority complex when I read about many prayers in the Bible. Elijah prays on Mt. Carmel and God answers with fire from heaven. Peter prays in prison and he gets sprung. Often when prophets and saints in the Bible pray stuff happens and it seems to happen fast. That leaves me to wonder, “what gives?” Maybe I’m just a lousy disciple. Maybe I don’t have enough faith. Maybe God just doesn’t do this stuff anymore. He seemed to take a hiatus between the testaments, maybe I’m just born in a “slow” time.

Luke 11:5-13 gives me hope. It seems to say that my experience is not unique and in fact is likely the rule rather than the exception. Prayer is hard. Faith is hard. God takes hundreds and thousands of years to do his thing. Sometimes what we are receiving is looking a lot like snakes and scorpions and we’re having real doubts about God’s character. Jesus wants to give us advanced warning about the rigors of prayer and to encourage us.