Jesus Isn't Decaf (By Naomi Meyers)

She had spent years praying. Every day she asked God to send a child. She tried to wait patiently. She had fought off discouragement, forced herself to believe, but nothing had happened. Over and over her hopes dissolved into disappointment. And time wasn’t on her side. She had a deadline. Having babies isn’t an older woman’s gig. Eventually, hope died on the rocks of discouragement. Her faith shriveled to nothing. She’d seen no answers to her prayers. She stopped telling herself it would happen. As she watched the last of her normal childbearing years slip away, Sarah quit believing she might have a child of her own. 

The course of life was not a mystery. Older women didn’t bear children. It was impossible. Her ragged faith knew better than to believe in the impossible. She couldn’t handle the disappointment. She stopped asking God for a child. Stopped praying for a son. Stopped believing it could still happen. Stopped hoping for a miracle. 

Desperate to create the family she so desired, Sarah took matters into her own hands. She sent Abraham to her maid. Hagar conceived. A son was born. But things didn’t turn out the way Sarah thought they would. There was no sweet family unit. The birth of the child also birthed a whirlwind of anger, bitterness, and hate. Sarah stood in the ashes of her attempt to play God and watched her chance at a family slip through her fingers.

There wouldn’t be another chance. As precious as the idea was, neither Abraham nor Sarah believed they would get one. At their age, the very idea was ridiculous. They were well into their golden years. If all their prayers and hopes hadn’t been answered when they were young, they didn’t have a chance of being answered now. Resigned to their childless situation, they were caught completely off guard when God announced they would still have a son. 

In a conversation with Abraham, God tells him he is going to give him future offspring. Abraham thinks maybe it will be Ishmael. But no. God says the child will come from Sarah. She will conceive and bear a child, a son. In shock, or possibly humor,  Abraham falls face down…and laughs. How could this possibly be? He would be 100. Sarah would be 90. It just doesn’t happen. It’s impossible. It can’t happen. But God says it isn’t and it will. 

 Abraham wasn’t the only one that saw humor in the promise. Sarah, shamelessly eavesdropping on the conversation between the angels and Abraham, laughed when she heard news of her impending pregnancy. It was outrageous, really. Everyone knew a woman decades past her childbearing years couldn’t conceive and have a son. It was impossible, and Sarah no longer believed in the impossible.  

All those years of hoping and praying, begging and waiting, disappointment and tears had finally ended in resignation. There had been no babies. So why, now that they had quit asking, now that they had given up hope, now that they had recalibrated their life expectations, why would they think God was going to come through? Was He going to do the impossible when they were beyond the age of possibility? Of course He was. He did. Because God deals in the impossible. Perhaps they would have known that if they had kept asking, kept seeking, kept knocking. (Genesis 16-18)

Looking down from my soaring position of perfection, I wonder what Sarah was thinking. Why didn’t she believe God when He said she’d have a son? Hadn’t she spent years asking and hoping for that very thing? Why did she stop? Why did she lose hope? Why did she decide God wasn’t going to answer her prayer? What made her think anything could possibly be impossible with God? 

As these accusatory questions swirl around my mind, I realize that I am not perched on some pinnacle of prayerful perseverance. I’m right down there with Sarah. I’m praying prayers I desperately want answered. Prayers for family and friends. Prayers for situations. Prayers for our nation. Prayers for revival in our churches, salvation for our children, and holiness in our homes. I’m sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for them to be answered. Now. On my time table. In the way I think they need to be done. 

From where I’m sitting, some of those answers are looking pretty impossible. I’ve been praying some of those prayers for a long time. My patience is wearing thin. My frustration is mounting. I’m getting tired of pounding on Heaven’s door to what seems like no avail. I feel discouragement looming. My hope is fading. I’m terrified God is going to miss His cue and not answer when and how I think He should. My timetable passes. It shakes my faith. Slowly but surely, I get discouraged, quit praying that particular prayer. I quit asking. Quit seeking. Quit knocking for that specific thing. Because it feels impossible, like it will never happen. And I, not unlike Sarah, have so much trouble believing in the impossible. 

Sarah and I aren’t unique. Many others have struggled with God’s timing and answers when they don’t match our own. Mary and Martha certainly did. Jesus was late. Too late. Lazarus was already dead. Four days dead. Upon hearing Jesus was headed into town, Martha went out to have a talk with Him. She had things to say. If He had been there earlier, this wouldn’t have happened. Once He arrived, a brokenhearted Mary threw herself at Jesus’ feet, crying out in frustrated anguish, “If You had gotten here earlier, You could have saved his life!” They didn’t like what happened. They weren’t happy with Jesus’ timing. But they didn’t know what He was doing. He was about to perform a miracle no one would be able to deny. God had a purpose for Jesus’ tardiness. In fact, He wasn’t tardy. He was just in time. (John 11)

 He was just in time for Daniel, too. When the decree came commanding everyone to pray only to the king, Daniel must certainly thought to stop praying. At least contemplated praying somewhere less conspicuous and in a softer tone. He didn’t succumb to the temptation. He kept his normal schedule, knelt by his window, and petitioned the God who had never let Him down. And he kept praying. As he entered that lion’s lair, perhaps he thought surely God should have come through by now. Being room service for a lion isn’t anyone’s dream. But God had a different plan. A plan that would expose His power and glory for all to see. It wasn’t that Daniel is stronger and braver than everyone else. He simply understood that the struggle to understand God’s plan and timing isn’t license to quit praying. It’s never time to do that. Praying people must always remain praying people. They must never give up, never stop knocking on Heaven’s door. (Daniel 6)

Isaiah cries out a rallying call to prayer when he speaks of the watchmen appointed to keep watch over Jerusalem. Positioned on the walls of the city, they will walk those walls, watch, and pray. Pray for the nation. Pray for the people within. Pray that they follow God. Pray they don’t stray. It is their duty as watchmen. The prophet instructs them to pray without ceasing with these words, “Don’t give God a rest from the sound of you praying.” Keep praying. Pray day and night. Never let Him rest. Ask then ask again. (Isaiah 62:6-7) 

As Isaiah gave that charge so long ago, we need to hear it again today. We are the watchmen walking the walls, keeping watch over our families, churches, communities, and country. We are those commissioned to cover them in prayer. We are charged to pray without ceasing. We are tasked with keeping our petitions before God, never letting Him rest. When the answers don’t seem to be coming, when the timing seems to be off, when the situation seems impossible, keep praying. When discouragement rears its head, when anxiety rattles your cage, when frustration addles your brain, keep praying. When the outlook is grim, the people are stubborn, the nation resistant to godliness, keep praying. Keep asking. Don’t take a break. Don’t lose heart. Don’t let Him rest. Ask again. Bring yourself, your loved ones, your country, your world to God and ask for a rescue, a ransom, a second chance, a saving grace. In His time, in His way, He will answer. Just ask again.  

The Psalmist beautifully reminds us that God doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t take vacations. He constantly watches over His children. His ears are always open to their cries. The wise writer of Ecclesiastes tells us God’s timing is never wrong, even if it doesn’t agree with yours. And the Apostle Paul informs us there is never a time to stop praying. No matter your circumstances or surroundings. Pray. Persistently. Pray without ceasing. Make your requests known to God and trust Him to handle them. Don’t let Him rest until He has completed the good work He has begun. (Psalm 121:3-4,8; Psalm 34:15; Ecclesiastes 3:11; I Thessalonians 5:17; Philippians 1:6, 4:6-7) 

He will complete it. Even if it seems impossible, improbable, or implausible, God will complete His work. Impossible things are His wheelhouse. So don’t become discouraged or frustrated when your prayers don’t get answered when and how you want. Don’t give up. Ask again. Don’t let Him rest. Keep praying. Keep asking. Keep knocking. Be the praying people of God who never let Him rest from the sounds of their petitions. He will hear. He will answer. Just ask again. (Luke 11:5-13; Mark 11:20-24)