The Call for Balance

The story of Cornelius, the centurion of the Italian Cohort who lived in Caesarea, is told in the 10th chapter of Acts.  After being identified by his nine-to-five life, he is identified as a man who feared God and who prayed constantly.  (Acts 9:1-2)  Obviously, he prayed at appointed times of prayer, and apparently, he prayed a lot.  One afternoon while praying the Lord told Cornelius something most of us have never heard.  While we can read the literal words of the Lord in verses 4-6, a loose translation might read, "Enough!  Enough!  I have heard your prayers. Enough!"

 

When was the last time we prayed in a way that might be characterized as "constant" and when was the last time we heard the Lord interrupt our prayers with "Enough!  Enough!"   When was the last time we heard the Lord telling us to stop praying because there was something He wanted us to get up and do.  There could be other reasons as well.  The Lord might want to say "Enough!" when we refuse to accept His silence as the answer, or when we will not accept an answer we do not want to hear, or when what we want does not fit inside His will.  When we persist in those moments, it is likely listening might bring to our ear the words "Enough!  Enough!"

But, what was true with Cornelius may actually be the case with us.  Prayer can be used as excuse for not getting up and doing what the Lord is putting out there for us to do.  After all, if we are busy praying we are doing important work and we cannot possibly stop it for something we regard as having lesser value.  The story of Cornelius does not negate the importance of prayer, nor does it imply that God does not highly regard our praying (Acts 9:4), but it also tells us that on bended knee we are not meant to stay if God is calling us to get up and be about something which in His heart for us to do.  Within this story we find the unexpected call for balance between staying and going, praying and working.