The late Dr. Arthur Caliandro, who served as pastor for Marble Collegiate Church in New York City for many years, wrote, “So, when life is getting you down, PUSH. When you’re having trouble on your job and things are not working out well, PUSH. When bills are high and money’s low, PUSH. When people aren’t responding to you in ways you hope and want, PUSH. When people don’t understand you, PUSH.” What did he mean by PUSH? Pray Until Something Happens.
Too often our emotions get the in the way of the PUSH. We become discouraged by God’s delayed answer or by the situation we are in. When this happens, we begin to doubt that anything will come from our prayers possibly causing us to stop praying over the situation. But we must stay strong and remember to push past our feelings and be persistent in our prayers. As Dr. Caliandro wrote, “Prayer is a way of seeing things from the highest point of view.”
The parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge in the Gospel stresses the importance of constant prayer and not giving up. The judge, who neither feared God nor cared about what people thought, eventually gave into the persistent pleas of the town’s widow. If the unjust judge offered justice to the relentless widow, in due time our compassionate God will answer our constant prayers, even if the answer is not what we expected. Keep the PUSH going. Something will happen.
Lord, give us the strength to continue to pray until you make a way.
