A message from God probably no one would like to hear …

You’ve prayed.

Now comes that still, small voice.

Not an audible voice, but you’re sure it’s the voice of God.

What does He say?

“Work harder!”

Wha?

Huh?

“God, is that really you?” you wonder.

Believe it or not sometimes, God’s message to us is occasionally, “Work harder.”

That seems unbelievable to the modern professing Christian who likely considers himself or herself to already be overworked and exhausted.

Well, some are overworked, and many are exhausted, but not always from good, hard (and necessary) work. Many of us live lives so riddled with bad habits that we’re exhausted … for staying up too late, for terribly unhealthy diets that actually deplete our energy, for not getting exercise, for draining our brains on endless Netflix marathons … on things that rob us of energy but are really unimportant.

Still, we’re just such busy people, when could God possibly think that a good answer to prayer is “work harder”?

When we keep Him at the fringes of life.

When our efforts to communicate, and to commune, with Him border on being insulting because they’re so shallow.

Sometimes, God wants our greater engagement with Him before He’ll consider coming through with what we ask for. Jesus revealed this reality about God to us like this …

“Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: ‘Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this — though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You fathers — if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him,” Luke 11:5-13.

And again in a similar story here …

“One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. ‘There was a judge in a certain city,’ he said, ‘who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’ Then the Lord said, ‘Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” Luke 18:1-8.

Both of these stories told by Jesus are related to prayer, and the idea is, “Yeah, you might have done your idea of prayer, but you’ve hardly really connected with God to the point you’ve communed with Him. God wants a closer connection, a deeper sincerity ..” or, in more blunt terms, work harder! Persist! Really get into pursuing God with what’s on your mind and in your heart.

Notice how the Apostle Paul joins in the “work harder” idea when he writes to the Thessalonian Christians …

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing,” 1 Thessalonians 5:11.

Paul gives away the fact that he knows the Thessalonians were encouraging each other by writing, “… just as you are already doing …” but he stills instructs them, “So encourage each other and build each other up …” In a way, he’s telling them, “Work harder!”

God doesn’t say “work harder” because He misunderstood something, didn’t hear us correctly, or is unsure of our needs or wants. Nothing gets by Him, He knows, sees, and understands everything. That includes knowing when we’ve tossed something like a prayer His way but really have not engaged with Him, much less communed with Him.

Sometimes, the One who demands that we love Him with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind, insists we put a little more effort into our relationship with Him.

He deserves our full attention, our whole-hearted engagement, and He delights in communing with us.

If God’s message to you lately is “Work harder!” take that as God saying He desires you to draw closer, and go deeper with Him.

Scotty