Patient and Persistent

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’. _{Luke 18:2,3}

Jesus tells the story of a man with power, authority and great responsibility. Unfortunately, he was so full of his own importance that he cared little for anything else. He was a judge with no fear of any higher power, and those lower than him, he gave no respect to. A widow came to him for help, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary’, but he said no. She came back a second time asking for justice and again he said no. Her need was such that she was unwilling to give up. She came back again and again, not put off by his refusal to help. She persisted continually until the judge said to himself, ‘…because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming’. Persistence, in the end, paid off.

Jesus points out to his listeners that this unrighteous man eventually did what was right for the woman who came to him. So, if an unrighteous judge can do what is right, how much more will the Righteous Judge do right, “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.”

I am sure you have worked out that this parable is about prayer. Jesus wants us to pray always, not lose heart and to never lose faith in what God can do. He challenges this with his final question, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

God’s love and compassion for us never wanes; every time we cry out to Him, he hears and he answer. Be patient in prayer but above all, be persistent in prayer.