The Parable Of The Persistent Widow
(A Teaching On Persistence In Prayer)
Luke 18:1-8
“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”"
"Oh what a blesséd parable that reassures the soul,(A Teaching On Persistence In Prayer)
Luke 18:1-8
“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”"
Encouraging our desperate heart that God is in control!
It comforts mind and spirit to read what Christ declares,
A lesson to be steadfast and persistent in our prayers!
For here He paints the picture of a woman in distress,
Petitioning for justice as she pleads in righteousness.
Appealing to a godless judge, a weary task indeed,
Who only grants her justice through a purely selfish need.
Oh what striking contrast, this sits in opposition
To how our loving Father views our prayers and each petition!
Invested in our interests, God listens to His Bride.
Unlike the unjust judge, our faithful God is on our side!
He’s sensitive to all our cries, He bottles up our tears.
We know that our requests will never fail to reach His ears!
Although our repetitions may put us to the test,
We walk by faith and trust in God who always knows what’s best.
We do not need to shout and scream, a whisper will suffice
But perseverance moulds our heart and makes us more like Christ.
Rectifying every wrong, our Saviour won’t begrudge.
Oh praises to our loving King! Our fair and righteous Judge!"
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Romans 12:12
“Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.”
Points For Reflection And Insight
It’s interesting to note that this section begins with Jesus emphasising the importance of prayer and how we always ought to pray. Human beings were created with a spiritual instinct and so prayer is incredibly important. As Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us,
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts.”
Prayer is something that comes naturally to the human soul because as Ecclesiastes says, we were created with eternity in our hearts. It’s understandable then that we desire to connect with the One who put that there, our Eternal Creator.
When Jesus said that we “always ought to pray,” He wasn’t necessarily meaning that we should always be on our knees in prayer as this would be a very hard thing to do in life!
It seems more likely that Jesus was encouraging us to live in the spirit of prayer. This is the kind of prayer we read about in 1 Thessalonians when we’re exhorted to “pray without ceasing.” To pray without ceasing is something we can naturally do as we go about our day and lift each situation up to the Lord. It’s like a continual line of communication that’s open between us and our Heavenly Father.
There’s nothing too big that God can’t handle and there’s nothing too small that He’s not interested in. If something is concerning or affecting one of His children, then our loving Father is certainly interested!
Is there anything you’d like to bring before the Lord in prayer today? Is there something concerning you that you’ve not prayed about yet because you thought it was too small or insignificant to bring before the Lord? Knowing that God is interested in every area of our lives, I’d like to encourage you to bring whatever is on your heart today before God’s Throne and ask Him to work in that situation.
At the beginning of this parable, Jesus also encourages us not to lose heart in praying. Although prayer does come naturally, it can also be a real challenge at times. So often in life we fail to pray because we’ve lost heart and become discouraged so we don’t pray as we should.
Unfortunately, it can be easy to lose heart in our prayer life and there are several reasons for this. Firstly and most importantly it’s because prayer is powerful! Satan hates prayer and dreads seeing a child of God in communication with the Lord because he knows there is power there!
Consider this, when we pray, we’re coming into the Courts of the Creator of the Universe! Think about that for a moment. The power that commanded the light to come into existence and put the sun, moon and stars in the sky is the same power that we are now inviting into our lives!
The power that raised Jesus from the grave and rules over the gates of death itself is the same power that we are now asking to work in our different situations! No wonder Satan hates it! He fears it! When we pray we are inviting El Shaddai, Lord God Almighty into the situation! Satan should be scared!
A child of God in prayer is a terrifying sight to him because it’s a powerful sight so all the more reason for us to pray without ceasing!
Another reason we can lose heart in prayer is because it’s so easy to get distracted. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this but I know I have! The truth is, when we come to pray, all sorts of obstacles can suddenly get in the way!
I know at times I’ve started praying when all of a sudden, tasks I need to complete will spring to mind, chores that need to be done, people I need to message will pop into my head and before I know it, I’m completely off track and not even praying anymore!
This is because when we enter into prayer, we’re also entering into a spiritual battle. This is why we’re exhorted to “labour in prayer.” Prayer can feel laborious at times because it involves three different aspects of our being.
To pray we engage the mind in order to use our understanding, we engage our heart to labour for the things we care about and we engage our will to fight against apathy and the temptation not to pray!
We can certainly see from this parable that Jesus knew we need to be taught and encouraged to labour fervently in prayer. As challenging as this is, the wonderful thing is we know there is great victory to be won on this Earth thanks to prayer! The Holy Spirit can assist us and help us as we pray, so if you’re struggling to pray today, ask the Lord to help you. He loves to see His children come before His Throne of grace so let’s not let anything get in the way of talking with God today!
The parable of the persistent widow also gives us a great contrast between the unjust judge and our Heavenly Father who is the most righteous Judge in existence. Some things to remember when coming before God to pray are:
God is a perfect Judge with a flawless character.
He is a Judge who loves to care for His children.
He is gracious and kind.
He knows us and He has a personal interest in our case.
This is the polar opposite to what the persistent widow experienced coming before a godless, selfish man. The woman had to overcome the judge’s reluctance and sometimes we may feel a little like this coming before God in prayer.
On occasion, if we’re not getting the answer we want and in the time that we want it, we can perhaps feel as if we have to try and “convince” God to grant us our petition. We might even feel as if we need to shout our prayers as if God’s hard of hearing.
God isn’t deaf. We’re not encouraged to repetition because God didn’t hear us the first time. We see in the Bible that even Jesus repeated prayers but He then trusted in God’s wisdom and timing.
The idea that God is reluctant to answer our prayers is incorrect and misses the point of the parable entirely. Jesus didn’t say to always pray and not lose heart because God is reluctant but because God isn’t! The unjust judge shows us the opposite of what God is so it’s not a comparison but a contrast.
God loves to answer our prayers, loves to hear us pray, helps us pray and is on our side when we pray.
Jesus was painting this picture to show God’s true heart towards us and this is our encouragement to pray.
It’s also important to remember that God always answers prayer. We either get a “yes,” a “no” or “wait.” God’s wisdom and love are always at the centre of His answers to our petitions. His timing is perfect because He is perfect.
If we pray amiss then His wisdom will guard us for our protection but our persistence in prayer is encouraged because it brings a transforming element into our lives. It builds into us the character of God Himself as it refines us and develops within us a heart of compassion.
Prayer brings our heart into line with God’s heart, we care about the things He cares about and we become more like Christ.
We can rest knowing that God is not slack or slow to avenge His people. All will be put right in His perfect way and perfect time. We can be confident that Jesus will resolve all things righteously.
May our Saviour find us today with hearts open to Him and with the kind of faith that doesn’t lose heart as we wait for His return!
