What Doing the Dishes Can Teach You About Prayer

I once heard that one of the top things that makes wives irritated is dirty dishes in the sink. So, the other day I was doing the dishes for my wife after dinner. We had cooked london broil in the oven and I was attempting to clean the pan. I tried using hot water and scrubbing hard but some of the residue was stuck to the pan and would not budge. So I filled the pan with water and let it soak for a while. After sitting in the water for a little while I scrubbed again and everything came off easily. 

What is the learning lesson? God is trying to clean us up and make us sparkly clean. And  sometimes we pray and ask him to remove things that have been stuck to us for a while. In these cases God could give you a really hard scrubbing or he could just put some water on you and let you sit for a while. In Psalm 18:35 David says that God's gentleness made him great. If there is some bad pattern that you have been stuck in God will take a gentle approach with you, which means he will let you soak first. 

The Bible tells us that Jesus is washing us with the water of the Word. If you are praying and asking for help but not seeing answers he may just have you soaking. You can accelerate the process by getting into your Bible and soaking in the Word.