Instructive Moment About Prayer

I think Gire's take on this story is interesting, only because I've never heard it before... that we are the man's children, snuggled up in bed with him... but I too, still think that line is about perseverance. It's a sad example, though. It is too easy to focus on the "God won't give you what you want unless you bug him to death" instead of the "Keep praying, even if it seems that God isn't listening."

There are quite a few versions of the Lord's Prayer kicking around these days, and personally, I think that's a good thing. Contrary to popular opinion, the King James Version was not the first, nor the final or most God-inspired translation. Scholars have returned to the Greek and to the Aramaic, searching for words that more closely correspond to what Jesus actually meant. Give us this day our daily bread seems to be one place where they all translate the same. It is a plea for more than food... a real need to trust that God will and does provide for us as those needs arise. it's something I need to be reminded of daily.

On the other hand, Lead us not into temptation has been reworked to death. Some versions read: "Save us from the time of trial." I like that. I would definitely like to be saved from whatever apocalyptic ending may be headed my way. But time of trial can also be interpreted as that moment of final judgment. I never really thought that was an option. Supposedly even "saved" Christians have to stand in the box while Jesus pleads their case and cancels their debt... or have I been reading too many of those schmaltzy email stories? My favorite version of this part goes like this: In times of temptation and stress. strengthen us, from trials too great to endure, spare us. That about covers it for me.