40 Caliber or 10 mm?

 

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.” (Luke 18:1-8a ESV).

 

Not long ago my brother-in-law, Mark Mincey, introduced me to the world of reloading ammunition. Through his generosity of time in instruction and supplies for the ammunition, I have found another way to extend one of my passions. While signing in at my local gun range to shoot for a bit, I was interrupted by a customer calling to the desk attendant asking, “Are 40 cal and 10mm bullets the same?” He went on to add, somewhat agitated, “Everything is labeled in that foreign measurement.” Well, I smiled to the attendant who patiently explained the basics. He said, “10 mm is the metric equivalent for 40 caliber, or 10 millimeters equals .40 of an inch. Therefore, both bullets are the same diameter.” Then he looked at me and said, “Maybe you ought to use the lane two or three down from him if he’s shooting today.” I couldn’t help myself from laughing out loud. (By the way… to keep all the corrections at bay… I know the difference between a 10mm cartridge and a 40 caliber S&W)

 

Sometimes we simply don’t understand because we haven’t been instructed. This is true of some of the instructions in the Scripture. Our reading today is one of those places that seem to be confusing until we understand that Jesus is encouraging us to simply persevere in our prayer. The Apostle Paul may be a bit clearer to our modern minds when he says, “Pray without ceasing…” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:13-15).  

 

It is easy to struggle with this. Just as there are pitfalls in communications between people, there are sometimes disconnects in our communicating with God. Most of the time our struggle is rooted in two things: impatience and unbelief. It is easy to want instant results from our prayers. Or worse, when things don’t turn out like we wanted, we question the reality of God. Usually the answer is in believing that God’s timing is perfect, just like His plan. That is to say, don’t stop praying because you didn’t get what you wanted when you wanted it. Just keep talking to God and He will give you understanding that will produce peace (cf. James 1).