Prayers That Work: Humble confession

Most people recognize prayer as talking with God. It is how we tell him about our day and how we are feeling. Moreover, it is the way we ask God for the things we need or want. This, of course, is one of the greatest parts of being a Christian: we have personal access to the Most High. However, if you are like me, you know the frustration and sadness that comes when your prayers are not answered as quickly as you hoped, or at all. This disappointment raises the question of whether there are any prayers that God will always answer.

Fortunately, the Bible suggests that there are some prayers that God will answer without fail. No, these prayers are not formulas whereby we can do this and/or do that, and God will be our genie. Rather, there are some prayers that invariably draw his attention and move him to move because they align with his character and command. That is, he will always answer these prayers because they align with his will.

The first of these prayers, I believe, is found in Luke 18:9-14. In this passage, we find Jesus on his way to Jerusalem for the last time. Time was short, and as Jesus packed in every bit of teaching he could, he stopped to offer a couple of pointers on prayer. In Luke 18:1-8, he told the story of the widow who persistently petitioned a corrupt judge for justice. Eventually, the judge relented and gave her what she wanted, and Jesus’ point was that, if a corrupt judge will eventually relent, how much more will our heavenly Father, who loves us and wants to answer prayers that are aligned with his will. We must, therefore, persevere in prayer. Then, starting in verse 9, he offered an example of a prayer that God will always answer immediately.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’

Luke 18:9-13 Christian Standard Bible

Two very differen pray-ers.

In this parable, Jesus began by introducing two men who could not have been more different: a Pharisee and a tax collector. As chance would have it, these men happened to be in the same place, the temple, at the same time. Beyond that, however, they had almost nothing in common.

Indeed, the Pharisee was a lay leader in one of the synagogues who studied and taught the law like an ancient Sunday School teacher. As such, when he prayed, he stood and prayed out loud. This was the traditional posture for prayer in the first century, but the Pharisee relished being the one to show everyone else that this was the way they were supposed to pray.

In contrast, the tax collector’s job was to exact taxes from people. He often traveled with a squad of soldiers who served as his own personal body guards and enforcers, and he represented everything Jews resented about their foreign oppressors. Worse, as a Jewish tax collector, this man was especially loathed as a traitor to his own people. When he prayed, he stood far off at the back of the room, and according to Luke, Jesus described his words as mere speaking. It was a different term, suggesting that the tax collector’s prayer was softer, perhaps even a whisper. It was as if he did not want anyone to see or hear him, likely because he did not know what to say or how.

These, then, were two very different pray-ers, but the difference between them was magnified when they started to pray. The Pharisee’s prayer was twenty-nine words long, the longest of which contained five syllables. In it, he thanked God that, as a Pharisee, he was better than everyone else, especially the tax collector. He reminded God of how he even went above and beyond the requirements of the Law, fasting twice per week (the Law required one fast per year) and giving a tenth of everything (the Law required giving only a tenth of his increase). Perhaps the most notable part of his prayer, however, was the five first-person verbs that he used: I thank you; I’m not like; I fast; I give a tenth of everything; I get. In short, this guy was holy, and everyone – especially the Pharisee himself – knew it.

On the other hand, the tax collector’s prayer was only six words long. The longest of these was four syllables. He asked one thing: God have mercy on me, a sinner. That last bit was particularly interesting: instead of listing specific sins he had committed, the tax collecter acknowledged that everything about him was sin. Nothing about him was good enough. In fact, he probably could not provide an itemized list of his sins because had long since lost track of them. Rather, he just laid himself bare before the Lord.

These two very different pray-ers, then, offered two very different prayers.

Two very different outcomes.

As different as the men and their prayers were, however, that was nothing compared to the outcomes of those prayers. As Jesus finished telling the parable, there was almost certainly some scoffing among the crowd. Remember, in verse 9, Luke specifically noted that the crowd included “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else.” Like the Pharisee, these were holy people who knew how to pray, and it was no surprise that, in their eyes, the Pharisee nailed it. Indeed, the NIV Cultural Background Study Bible observed, that it was considered pious and humble to thank God for one’s own piety.

As Jesus finished, then, the expectation was that he would commend the Pharisee, extolling him for his superior faith and obedience. In short, the crowd expected Jesus to affirm what the Pharisee already knew of himself: he truly was holy and blessed.

Indeed, it is difficult to imagine the gasp which must have escaped from the crowd when Jesus revealed in verse 14 that it was the tax collector who “went down to his house justified rather than the other.” The tax collector! Who had betrayed his own people and done so very much wrong! The tax collector walked away justified, and the Pharisee did not!

Talk about two very different outcomes! The guy who everyone knew as a sinner was deemed justified while the man everyone knew was holy was guilty. It was preposterous! Outrageous! Nonsense!

That is, it was preposterous, outrageous, and nonsense until Jesus explained what was going on in the last bit of verse 14: “I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

It was difficult to deny that this Pharisee was exalting himself. Everything about his prayer was a toot on his own horn, and even though the culture insisted this was a humble way to pray, by stepping back just a bit, the people in the crowd had to recognize that it was just about as haughty as one could get. Once they realized that, they had to recognize that God was consistently against the proud throughout the Old Testament. For instance, he warned in Deuteronomy 8:14, “Be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.” So also, in 2 Samuel 22:28, David sang, “You rescue an oppressed people, but your eyes are set against the proud— you humble them.” Throughout the psalms, pride was equated with wickedness.

In contrast, the tax collector was clearly humbling himself. Everything about his prayer indicated a sense of brokenness and inadequacy. He knew that he was a sinner. He knew there was no way he could fix his sin. And so he looked to God for forgiveness, and in his mercy, God granted it.

The prayer of humble confession, then, is the first prayer that will always be answered, and it will always be answered immediately. Just as the tax collector was justified before he left the temple for home, when we humble ourselves before the Lord, he will forgive us then and there. Because the prayer of humble confession is a prayer that always, always, always works.