Articles
Pest or Guest?
Pest or Guest?
“The only difference between a pest and a guest is an invitation.”
How is your relationship with God? Do you feel as though you are an honored guest to Him? The Bible teaches that God wants us to have a relationship with us. “For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people’” (2 Cor. 6:16). Not only does God want a relationship with us, but He invites us into His presence.
One way that God has invited us into His presence is through prayer. Oftentimes, though, we feel more like a pest than a guest. We pray and pray, but God doesn’t seem to be listening. “After all,” we may think, “God isn’t concerned with my problems. He has bigger things to look after.” But the truth is, God is concerned with all of our worries, fears, anxieties, and problems.
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)
“He regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.” (Psalm 102:17)
In fact, this is the point of Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8. The unjust judge gave the widow justice so she would quit bothering him. The contrast between that judge and the Lord follows: “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.” God’s desire is to answer our prayers. We are not pests: we are His honored guests.
However, there is a time when we become pests to God. That is when we are living in sin — walking in darkness. As we walk away from God, He turns His face from us. But even then, God truly desires for us to respond to His invitation and return to Him. At the dedication of the temple, God underscores this wonderful fact when He says, “my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin…” (2 Chron. 7:14).
We are welcomed into the presence of God through prayer. May we always respond to that invitation with gladness and appreciation!
