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 about men. 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 about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!'”
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?” (Luke 18:1-8 NIV)
Our God is faithful. The judge in this parable acted on behalf of the widow because she was wearing him down, not because he was a good judge. But God wants to bless us.
Jesus does encourage us to be persistent in praying for our needs to be met. I believe this is because our constant prayers are our lifeline to God. If God’s answer is wait, we can have confidence that the waiting is for a good reason. By being persistent, we are keeping in touch and growing in stature as one of his blessed children. We will be blessed in God’s time, if not in ours; and the blessing will be glorious.
It is when we attempt to take matters into our own hands and run ahead of God that we fall flat on our faces–like Sarah helping God to give them a child by offering her maidservant to Abraham. We are still suffering from that disaster. I have had a few such disasters of my own where I tried to run ahead of God–with many regrets. Verse 8 seems to catch me by surprise as if it doesn’t fit the parable. But then I realize that it may very well be referring to those who through their lack of faith resort to taking matters into their own hands. Then I see that it fits the parable perfectly.
I have been planning a children’s book and project that I want to get published. I think it is good. I believe God gave me the inspiration for this project, though it has been a loooooooong time getting it to where it is now and I face the very real possibility that it may end up in one slush pile after another. It is very tempting to take drastic measures that could hurt me in the long run–especially if these measures are of my own logic and not of God’s directing.
Have you been tempted to run ahead of God in some way because you became weary of waiting on Him? Lord God, help us to be patient when you seem to keep telling us to wait. Help us to trust that our times are truly in your hands and that you will bring to pass your perfect will for our lives.
Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
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