Luke 18:1-8
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Always pray, and never give up...Jesus teaches us a parable to show we should always pray and do not give up...The parable is about not only about one or two prayers, but can be a struggle...Sometimes we pray, when our backs are against the wall...Jesus teaches us the we should pray to God and keep praying...Jesus teaches us that we should pray and keep praying when things in our lives are hopeless, and our backs are against the wall...He teaches us that when things we cannot understand happen in our lives, don't give up -God is there listening...Why else would Jesus tell us to always pray and not give up, if God is not listening?...Jesus is telling us without question, God is listening, so keep praying...
The two characters in the parable are a judge and a widow...The judge can be pictured as powerful and godless judge...The other is a weak widow...The judge is a tough, unjust, old non-caring decision maker versus a victimized widowed woman, who has an adversary...The ungodly judge finally decides to give in to the widow, not because she is in the right, but because she did not give up and was bothering the judge...She was always praying and she did not give up...Jesus tells us the widow, although her justice given was unorthodox, she found her justice, because she did not give up...
Not giving up is the key to the answers to the widow in her prayers and in her getting justice...Had she just went to the unrighteous judge once, justice would not have been done...This is sometimes like one prayer will not be enough, and is not enough...God listens to prayer and constant prayer...God listens to one who prays and prays continuously...God listens to those who pray and who does not give up...Sometimes in our first prayer, we think we need one thing, when we actually need another...By constant prayer, we may realize (in our future prayer, on the same subject) what we need...Sometimes it might take years of praying to bring closure to a prayer...But God is listening...And hopefully, the one praying is listening and learning from God...We always must remember that God does not need to pray, it is us that needs to pray...It is us, who have sinned...So our prayer, in this way, is not for God, but it is for us...It is our call for His help...Also, God knows all things...Jesus says when a child of God cries out won't God see that they get justice...Jesus reminds us here, we are children of God...God does not like to see any of His children in pain...But it is only Him, who knows what is best for us...If we pray for years, and then we reflect and there is finally an answer, we should see what we have learned...
Jesus at the end of this parable, asks when He returns to earth, will He find faith?...He here has taught us to pray continuously and not give up...Here He has taught us to pray day in and day out...This takes faith...There will be doubts, if one prays for months and years and does not hear what they want to hear...This is because many times in prayer, we await for what we want (to hear and to get), and not what we need...God knows everything we need... And in all of this, praying and not giving up, takes faith...Can we pray year after year, and not give up?...It takes faith, and hope in the LORD to continue to pray without giving up...Jesus wants us to keep the faith, after our long struggling prayers...