Being persistant in prayer
This chapter in Judges gives us incredible insight into how God sometimes responds to prayer. To give a little background….. an Israelite had visited the town of Benjamin with his wife and some "hell raisers" demanded that he come out of the home that he was visiting so that they could "have their way with him." Instead of him they ended up getting a hold of his wife and they raped her to death. So in turn, this Israelite went back to his tribe and assembled an army to avenge this outrage. Before, they attacked the Benjaminites they went to God to seek his direction and he made it clear to go forward with the attack, so they did and they were routed..... Now, instead of getting angry at God or cursing God, they regrouped, and knowing that they were in Gods will, prepared for another attack. Again they went to God and he gave the OK, and again they were routed..........Now I don't know about you, but at this point I would be pretty mad at God. But the Israelites were not; again they regrouped and went to God a Third time! What perseverance! Again God told them to move forward and they attacked a third time. This third time they began to get defeated, but rallied and ended up completely wiping out the entire city. I think this passage really shows us God's view of prayer. He wants us to be persistent even if we are not getting the results that we are asking for right away. To God this shows "true" faith. Jesus says to “knock and the door will be open”......and “that we have not because we ask not”, however he does not tell us how long we have to knock or how many times we have to ask before he will answer. If God simply gave us everything we wanted instantaneously when we asked there would be much less faith involved in believing in him, he would become a glorified Santa Claus, and I believe that God more than anything in the world, wants to develop a true, deep relationship with his children that cannot be achieved through instant gratification.
