December 13

‘Men ought to always pray, and not to faint.’ – Luke 18:1
   Shortly after my first wife and I had separated, I found money to be very tight. I became quite despondent as the bill collectors incessantly called. I had no car insurance and I wasn’t sure how I would make the rent, much less feed my kids at times. Naturally, being a young man in his early twenties, I looked for money from whence money had always come, with a phone call to my dad.
Much to my surprise, Dad refused my plea. There would be no bailout. To say I was angry would have been an understatement. Didn’t my dad care about me? Didn’t he understand that I was going through a hard time? Had he no compassion?
   As it turned out, my dad gave me the best gift of all, by not giving me anything. I was forced to provide. I had to move past my feelings of pity and actually make those ends meet. I took a second job and became a master budgeter. With each month in the black, my confidence grew.
   I don’t know that my dad prayed for me, he’s not a particularly spiritual man, but God used him nonetheless. In retrospect, I look at this lesson in self reliance as a turning point in my adult life. While there are still times that I find money to be tight, I cannot fathom even asking for a handout, let alone accepting one. God challenged me to be responsible and thanks to my dad, I had no choice but to accept.
   This time in my life serves as a highlight to today’s lesson. God calls us to intercede in prayer for others. When we intercede for others, we are placing our faith in God to help them along their path. Whatever misery they may be in is theirs. God has a plan for them, as indiscernible as it may be.
   It is right to have sympathy for others. We are social creations and to turn our backs on our fellow man is not what God expects of us. However, sympathy without intercession is a futile effort. Sympathy without intercession mires us in taking charge of a situation over which we cannot hope to control. Sympathy without intercession leads us to trusting in our own ability to affect a solution rather than for God to intervene according to His plan. Sympathy without intercession is counterproductive and often only enables and prolongs suffering.
   We should never do for others what they can do for themselves. People need to be self sufficient, or as self sufficient as they are able. They need to learn to trust in their relationship with Christ. God will not abandon them. Rather, He will bring them through their suffering with a greater understanding of their own personality and a growing faith in Him.
   Does this sound like an insensitive lesson as we go deeper into the Christmas season? Only superficially. Please, show compassion and mercy. Provide meals for the hungry and clothing for children etc. God is not saying that we should not do good works. God asks only that we temper our efforts with prayer first and sympathy second. He asks that we not get in the way of His will by ruining those around us in order to appease our conscience.
   I’ll wrap up today with one of my favorite unattributed quotes: “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will never go hungry again.”