God always hears the righteous. We can count on it: “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry. The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles” (Psalm 34:15, 17 NKJV).

When prayer seems to be working like a chisel, and the process seems to be going so slowly, or perhaps we don’t even see progress at all, we can still rest assured that something is happening when we pray.

We always long for prayer to work like a mighty earth mover that moves huge chunks of the mountain at a time, but when Darlene Vice and I were discussing the largest earth movers, she reminded me: “The whole process is not in how big the equipment is. It’s the skill of the operator.” In our situation, it’s not the skill of the pray-er, but the skill of God to whom we pray. She said, “We pray but God controls the levers and uses our prayers to dig here, chisel there, scrape somewhere else, but when the process is finished it’s exactly like it should be.” It doesn’t matter how eloquent or experienced the pray-er is. God is the One who saves. He is the only One who knows our prodigals’ hearts and the process that fits them.

We often pray for “suddenlies,” but even “suddenlies” remind me of the persistent widow who continuously went to the unjust judge with no result until the day he finally granted her petition. That day, she suddenly went from unapologetic repeated refusals to a sudden yes! It seemed like a suddenly, but in reality, she had been chiseling for a while. Jesus explained His reason for sharing the parable in verse seven: “‘And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?’” (Luke 18:1-8). The widow had already put in the persistent work. It wasn’t a one and done journey. The good news is that we aren’t getting repeated unapologetic refusals from God, but a “pray until.”

In a list of seven admonitions from Paul at the end of a letter to the church at Thessalonica, the second admonition is “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17), but it’s not the only time the Bible reminds us to pray persistently:

• “[R]ejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer” (Romans 12:12).
• “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2).
•  “[P]raying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18).

After all, “[t]he effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).

Jesus gave assurance this way:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!'” (Matthew 7:7-11).

So, we pray, chiseling away, waiting until our faith is sight and we are experiencing the great promises the Lord has made to us.

PRAYER: Our Father, we are grateful for the times we see huge movement back toward You in our prodigals’ lives! But then there are the times we see our prodigals dig in their heels to stay in their sinful life, even when You are drawing them back to Yourself so actively and obviously.

Thank You for never giving up on them. Your love is indeed never-ending. It is everlasting. It doesn’t end because they’ve sinned or because they feel unlovable. You’re right there with them always, so we are asking that You wrap Your everlasting arms around them in a way in which they are very aware of You. We ask You to love on them in a way they can’t deny. Remind them of Your total devotion to them. Remind them that You choose them every time, thereby defeating Satan’s lies to them that tell them You don’t care and could never love someone that does the things they do.

Send Your people to love them in ways that line up with Your perfect will and in ways that will reach their hearts.

Father, we trust You, Your plans for them, Your process, and Your great love for them as revealed through the cross. We trust Your power and ability and Your willingness to save them, knowing You are “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

We trust You.

In Jesus’ name we pray.