P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

Getting After God

April 24, 1916, 22 men dressed in ragtag clothing stood on the shore of Elephant Island, gazing out to sea, where a tiny boat bobbed among the icebergs on the swells of the mighty South Atlantic.

They didn’t know whether they would ever see their commander, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and his five companions in the boat again. In order to rescue the men on the island, Sir Ernest and his crew would need to sail their little lifeboat 800 miles across some of the roughest seas on earth. Then, at the end of their voyage, they would have to come ashore on South Georgia Island, a tiny apostrophe on the face of the wild ocean.

And even if they could accomplish that, they would still need to find a ship that could bring them back to the fringes of Antarctica in the dead of winter to rescue their comrades.

On Elephant Island, the 22 men left behind settled into a dull routine made all the more miserable by some of the worst weather conditions on earth. When it gets warm in Antarctica, the snow underfoot gets sloshy and makes your feet wet and cold. When it gets cold and windy, exposed flesh can freeze about as fast as you can say “ice cream sandwich.”

After a month of waiting, you could hardly blame them if they had started to get sloppy in their discipline, and had begun to lose their hold on hope. When two months had passed, you would almost expect some of the men to be suicidal.

When three months had passed, was there any reason to hope at all anymore? When four months had passed, and it was still another month till the spring equinox would bring some hope of warming weather, the tedium of waiting must have seemed unbearable.

And yet they continued to cling to hope. One account of their eventual rescue, 129 days after they had watched the little boat go to sea, stated that after he had all his crew members safely aboard the rescue ship, Ernest Shackleton said to one of the men who had waited so long for him, “Well, you were packed and ready, weren't you?”

“Yes,” the man said, “we never lost hope. We believed you would come for us. You had promised, and we expected you; so each morning we rolled up our sleeping bags and packed all our equipment, so we would be ready.”

The stories of courage, faithfulness, and sacrifice associated with the 1914 to 1916 Shackleton Antarctic expedition have gone down in history as perhaps the most amazing stories of human endurance ever told.

All through those months the hopes and dreams of the men left on the island had focused on the courage, faithfulness, and skill of their commander. And he did not disappoint them.

What a contrast with the Biblical story we’re looking at today!

In a parable found at the beginning of Luke chapter eighteen, Jesus speaks of a man the absolute opposite of Sir Ernest Shackleton. Here’s Jesus’ story: “ ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming” ’ ” (Luke 18:2-5, NRSV).

It’s one of the most curious, and in some ways puzzling, parables in all of the New Testament. The verse before the story explains that Jesus told this parable in order to encourage His disciples to “pray always and not lose heart.”

But at first glance Jesus seems to be comparing God to an unjust, uncaring judge!

Fortunately it’s only at first glance that it seems that way. This parable is different from most of Jesus’ parables. It teaches by contrast rather than by direct comparison.

The judge’s bad attitude is contrasted with God’s good attitude.

The parable teaches about persistence in prayer by reminding the people that persistence can pay off even in purely human situations where the person addressed is much less beneficent than God.

Since even uncaring people can be influenced to do what’s right by persistent appeals, consider how persistence in prayer will pay off, when it is addressed to God, who already has our best interests at heart.

Some commentators have pointed out that Jesus is talking about chutzpah [khootz-pah] here, and putting it in a positive light. It’s not something negative that irritates people, rather, it is tenacious persistence in appealing for justice to be done. It’s “getting after God” in a good way. It implies that we have enough faith to keep trusting even when it seems like God isn’t answering our prayers.

The Bible is full of stories about people like this, whose faithful persistence in appealing to God was rewarded.

Jacob, the father of the nation of Israel, was rewarded for wrestling with God and clinging to Him, demanding a blessing.
Rabbis in Jesus’ day liked to recall the time when the Lord was ready to execute judgment against His people because of their idolatry, but Moses pleaded with God, saying, Take my life but spare the people! As one of the rabbis explained it, Moses was so bold that he acted like a man who seizes another man by his garment and says to him “I will not let you go until you forgive and pardon these people!”

And in Jesus’ own life and ministry there were many examples of people who were rewarded for having the sort of tenacious faith that keeps on believing, keeps on seeking a blessing, until it is rewarded. Think, for example, of the Canaanite woman who came to Jesus pleading with Him to cast a demon out of her daughter. If you read the story in Matthew 15, you notice that at first Jesus just plain ignored the woman. But she kept calling out to Him, asking for help—much like the widow with the unjust judge in the story we’re looking at today. Finally Jesus’ disciples got so tired of listening to her that they tried to chase her away. But she kept persisting. Even when Jesus told her that it wouldn’t be fair for Him to help her, she wouldn’t give up.

When I read this story, I see a smile on Jesus’ face when He next speaks to her. With great love and admiration, He turns to her and says: “ ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish’ ” (Matthew 15:28, NRSV).

Persistence pays off with Jesus, just as it does with His heavenly Father.

Persistence in prayer is one way of demonstrating the genuineness of our faith. And that is one of the important lessons Jesus is teaching in this parable.

But there’s something more here as well. Notice how the story ends. Jesus first of all poses and answers a question that reveals His purpose in telling the story. It reveals that He is setting up a contrast between the judge and God. But then He asks another question. Here’s how the story ends. Jesus says, “ ‘And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’ ” (Luke 18:7-8, NRSV).

It’s that last question that reveals the second lesson to be learned from this parable.
Remember the men on Elephant Island, waiting week after week, then month after month for their rescuer to come? Do you think they ever doubted he would return? Do you think their faith in him ever faltered?

What about Ernest Shackleton himself? It took four attempts before he finally got to his men. Don’t you suppose there were questions in his mind, about what he would find when he finally got back to Elephant Island? Would he find faith on the island when he returned?

With this final question, Jesus applies this parable specifically to our day and age—right now—a time when many people have begun to wonder whether Jesus ever will return to earth to rescue us.

When Jesus returns, will He find faith in your heart?

How can we assure that our faith will remain strong?

Ah, that’s the beauty of this parable! It not only challenges us to have strong faith, it teaches us the secret of keeping our faith strong. It doesn’t teach us to think of God as an unjust judge who has to be wheedled and cajoled to answer our prayers. It reveals a God who wants to answer our prayers, and who doesn’t want us to quit praying.

Prayer is the breath of the soul, we’re told. And God doesn’t want us to quit breathing. So He listens eagerly for our prayers, eagerly waiting to answer them.

When it doesn’t seem the answer comes right away, well, then it’s time to have that kind of tenacious faith that hangs on, always expecting an answer.

And while we wait, we need to keep breathing. We need to keep our souls alive, we need to keep our prayer life growing strong. Because that’s what keeps us in contact with the God who wants to answer our prayers and wants to find us full of faith when He comes to rescue us.

Will Jesus find faith on the earth when He returns? Let’s you and me resolve that the answer will be Yes, yes, a thousand times Yes! Because there are people like you and me, friend, who will hang on, keep on keeping on in our prayers, keep on “getting after God,” until that great day when we see Him come!