Luke 18:1-8 ESV
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Do you ever pray for something to happen and when it does not happen, or at least since it has not yet happened, do you lose heart? Especially if you have been praying for something you know is in the will of God, biblically speaking, and if you have been praying for a very long time, and if you have not yet seen results, does that make you weary of heart? Do you then give up and “throw in the towel,” so to speak?
Well this story here is an encouragement for us to keep praying, even if we don’t see results for a very long time. But this involves praying in the will of God. So, this is not about praying in the flesh wanting God to meet our fleshly desires. But even if we are praying in the will of God, it doesn’t mean that our timing is God’s timing. He knows what he is doing and why, and we may not see as he sees. But we shouldn’t give up hope.
If we are praying according to the will of God, he hears our prayers. He is not ignoring us. It just isn’t his timing yet. He really isn’t delaying as we might think he is, though. He is working. We just can’t see him working, perhaps. And if we can’t see him working we may assume he is not listening or that he doesn’t care, but he is listening, and he does care, as long as we are following him and we are listening to him.
Now, when this says here that “he will give justice to them speedily,” this may have been in reference to something very specific to the people at that time, for he was speaking to a specific group of people at that time period. And he knew what they were asking him for. And speedily could also mean that when he finally does answer that it will happen with quickness, with speed. But I don’t believe the parable is teaching us we should expect immediate results when we pray, for that doesn’t seem to be the point.
The point appears to be that, even if we have been praying to the Lord for a very long time over something that we know is the will of God, like in God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, we should not give up hope just because our loved ones have not yet surrendered their hearts to Jesus Christ. And since we all have that choice to believe or to not believe, there is no guarantee that they will. But we don’t know if they will or not, so we should not give up on them.
And I find it interesting that this declaration of God giving his people justice speedily was immediately followed up with “when the Son of Man comes.” Could it be then that he is referring to giving this justice when he returns, and that it will take place speedily at that time? It could be. For he follows the statement about when Jesus returns with, “will he find faith on the earth?” Could the question be related to those who had been praying? Did they get despondent to the point of giving up hope? Perhaps!
But we can certainly also apply this question to the time of when Jesus returns that he could be asking if he will find faith on the earth at all. And there, all we have to do is look at our society and take a good hard and biblical look at what is called “church” today, and if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that it appears, well at least here in America, that not many have true biblical faith, although many give lip service to the Lord. For far too many are still walking in the ways of the flesh.
But even though things appear to be on the decline, spiritually speaking, among those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, all is not lost, and we should not give up hope. I am still praying for a spiritual revival before the return of Christ, and I believe that if we understand what the book of Revelation is saying that it appears that there will be a revival before the return of Christ. But it will come during a time of great distress, for it will take that to turn people’s hearts to the Lord in genuine faith.
And what is genuine faith? Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow him in obedience. For, if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Christ we die with him to sin and live to his righteousness, then we have the hope of eternal life with God, provided that we continue steadfast in faith until the end (see Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans 6:1-23; Galatians 5:16-21; 1 John 1,2,3).
So, if you are praying for your loved ones to come to true faith in Christ, to die with Christ to sin and to live to God and to his righteousness, then don’t stop praying. Don’t give up on them, no matter how long it takes, and even if you get crucified in the process for being overly religious because you actually take God and his word seriously. And don’t stop telling people the truth of the gospel, and please refute the lies of the enemy, too, for far too many professing Christians are believing the lies and not the truth.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Pray, Pray, Pray
An Original Work / September 6, 2012
Based off Various Scriptures
Pray that eyes may enlightened be,
So they may know Christ.
Pray that they may Him better know,
Strengthened by His pow’r.
Pray that they may grasp
How wide and long
And high and deep
Is Christ’s love.
Pray that they may be filled
To the fullness of God’s love.
Pray with thanksgiving.
Pray for an open door for me,
So I may share Christ.
Pray when the gospel is proclaimed –
Shared with clarity.
Pray words are given me so
I declare the gospel fearlessly.
I pray for you to be active
Sharing your faith, too.
Pray continually.
We oft not know for what to pray,
So we ask for help.
The Spirit intercedes for us –
Words cannot express.
Just keep on praying for the saints
With all kinds of requests to God.
Pray they may have faith to
Please their God in ev’ry way.
Pray with joyfulness.
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