Luke 18:1-8

Luke 18:1-8

1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, 2 saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. 3 “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 4 “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; 7 now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? 8 “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

Jesus taught many things about prayer to His disciples.  This parable teaches about not giving up on prayer.  Our immediate gratification society tends to look at prayer like a McDonalds drive-thru.  We think we ought to be able to mumble some mostly incoherent disjointed words and then pull up to the next window where, after only a few minutes, whatever we asked for is miraculously delivered to us.  Jesus wants us to know that prayer is not like that.  There will be times where we will have to wait for long periods of time and then the answer may not even be what we had hoped for initially.  He leaves us with some vital instructions about prayer. 

PRAY WITH PERSISTENCE: Jesus uses the example of an unjust judge who has no fear of God or respect men.  This judge only lived for himself.  There was a widow in the city who had suffered and injustice only he could fix.  Since there was no advantage for him to give her justice, he refused to protect her.  However, she continued to insist, coming to him day after day in search of justice.  Eventually, she simply wore him out and he granted her request because it brought him peace and quiet.  The key to this woman’s success was her persistence in asking.  She simply would not take no for an answer.  Since she knew that the judge was her only hope for justice and she desperately needed justice, she simply would not quit.  Too often our problem in prayer is a lack of persistence.  We are so used to instant gratification in so much of our lives that we get discouraged too easily when our prayers are not instantly answered.  Self-reliance is another reason we are not more insistent in our praying.  We fail to recognize our complete dependence on God.  Patience and dependence are two ingredients that are essential to persistence in prayer.

PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE: The parable describes the response of an unjust judge to a persistent widow.  He uses this illustration to demonstrate how different God is from this judge.  The point Jesus is making is that if even and unjust judge can be moved to execute justice for selfish reasons; we can be confident that God, who is always just, will also respond to our prayers.  Any delays in bringing about justice from our perspectives must always be interpreted as a decision of God’s part to do something that will ultimately be better in light of eternity.  Faith is the key to our relationship with God.  We must trust Him and place our utmost confidence in His decisions no matter how they align with our requests.  We are not to use prayer as a means of manipulating God.  It is a means of communicating with Him and demonstrating our confidence in His character and His willingness to answer our prayers in the best possible way; “In light of eternity.”

APPLICATION: Pray with persistence, especially when it seems like God is not answering our prayer in the way we expect.  Recognize our dependence upon Him and how much we need Him in order to live our lives in a way pleasing to Him.  Have complete confidence in the character and goodness of God.  Trust that He cares and is working for His glory when circumstances are not what we would prefer.