I recently rewatched one of my favorite animated films: The Prince of Egypt.
As I was watching my eyes were opened to a level and endurance and trust that I, and I assume most of our world, have never practiced.
This story from the book of Exodus shows the tenacity of the Hebrews people in their unceasing prayer. They were enslaved to Egypt for 400 years. FOUR. HUNDRED. YEARS. And after all that time they still cried out to God in their need. Then, after being delivered from slavery they spent another 40 years in the desert in search of the promised land.
I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated after a month of seemingly unanswered prayer. Being surrendered to God’s timing and constant in prayer seems to require a herculean effort these days with our addiction to instant gratification. I’ve even gotten frustrated sitting down to pray about something for the first time! And yes, it’s difficult when you feel like you don’t have direction but we also seem unwilling to wait and listen for it, or even to really seek it out.
But there is also another lesson I learned from the story of the ancient Hebrews: how quickly we return to doubt after witnessing God’s faithfulness in action.
As they were being delivered from Egypt they witnessed the 10 plagues, the pillar of fire separating the camps, and the splitting of the Red Sea. Even after ALL OF THIS they rejected God and worshipped false idols in the desert. They had seen with their own eyes the mighty works and miracles of God and STILL they turned away in a time of tribulation and discomfort.
And we do the same! We may not have seen pillars of fire and seas parted down the middle, but for those of us who have chosen the Christian life we HAVE seen God work in our lives. How quickly we forget those things when things get hard.
When I’m in the throws of a pity party I forget the time I prayed to work with nuns and ran into them on a ferry 24 hours later, or when people who barely knew me passed on a message from God that was exactly what I needed to hear, or when He stepped in to end a relationship that – regardless of how wrong for me I knew it was – I refused to give up on, or even when at 13 years old I was tired of living a life I felt was worthless and He spoke to me so clearly before I had the chance to quit.
“Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Romans 12:12
The hope being the hope of salvation and an eternity of peace. The tribulation being living this life that never quite goes the way we plan, this life that is never easy. And constant meaning every. day. We toss around this battle cry of “never give up!” without actually practicing it or knowing what never really means.
Like any and all disciplines it takes practice. It takes the difficult early stages when it hurts and your sore and you have to force yourself to make the time. But if we want to see Him split the seas that lead to our freedom, we need to practice this constancy in prayer.
Whether that entails 4 days or 400 years…
