Persistence Pays

And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. Luke 18:7-8a (NIV)

I have a confession to make. I am the neighbor with the barking dogs. I feel terrible. They are soooo annoying. But I cannot get them to be quiet on a regular basis. We used to be a nice quiet family with one fairly quiet dog. And then, in a weak moment, we adopted a dog with issues. Riley is a very sweet, loving dog, but she came from an abusive home and she definitely has some baggage from her past. She deals with one of her issues by barking at anything that moves, including cats (of which we have four-all constantly moving), known or unknown people, leaves, bees (of which we have several hives worth), and imaginary objects. Or sometimes she barks because she wants attention. Since she cannot be in the house during the summer (Issue #29), she wants us to come out to see her, so she barks until we do. And once Riley begins barking, our other dog joins in. They do not just bark for a few minutes, get sore throats, and quit-no, this goes on for hours. At least I imagine it would, but actually it just goes on until I am totally fed up and go out and see what the problem is and somehow, fix it. Then we have sweet peace until the next object moves or she wants more attention.

To me, Riley is the picture of persistence and makes me think of the parable of a determined widow who had a request and kept bugging a judge to help her (Luke 18:1-8). At first he ignored her, but he was finally worn down from her persistent requests and gave her what she asked. Like Riley, this lady did not quit just because she did not get what she wanted right away. She kept at it and at it and at it. And through this parable, God is encouraging me to be persistent in my prayers. Not that He is like the judge and ignoring me-far from it, but through a continuing problem, I am drawn to Him again and again. He wants me to come to Him. He desires my company. Will I eventually get what I ask for? Maybe, maybe not. But because I am constantly going to Him, my relationship with my Heavenly Father grows and deepens. He is always there listening to me. And until I get a clear yes or no from Him, God wants me to continue to ask Him to help me with my problem, over and over.

Precious Father, thank you for hearing me when I pray and for not getting tired of my persistent requests. Thank you for desiring my company. Help me not to get frustrated because You do not answer by my timeline. And once again, please help Riley to stop barking.

Janine Miller