Too Polite?

There was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at his word and departed.

John 4. 46-50

Josh Moody:

I wonder also whether there is a lesson for our prayer life. This is the passionate, intemperate, insistent prayer of a desperate man. Are our prayers too polite? The man comes to Jesus, appeals to Jesus, and he is heard by Jesus. Could we learn from this to pray more passionately, more desperately, more insistently? Certainly, we have no guarantee that every sick child in this world will be healed. Unless Christ comes first, we will all at some point die. But we do have the promise that he hears us when we pray (1 John 5:15), even if his answer now is “only” to provide us with the ongoing strength that we need to meet the difficulties that we face. “You do not have because you do not ask God,” James points out to members of the early church (James 4:2). The royal official could not be accused of that, and neither should we be.