21 Days of Prayer - Day 8: Call upon the One who said, “Pray without ceasing.”
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Luke 18:1-8
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Notice
What a vivid parable. It involves a corrupt judge (“neither feared God nor respected man”) and an “importunate” widow. We don’t use that word much anymore, but it means “troublesome persistence.” The judge assumed if he refused to help her, she would just go away. He didn’t reckon on her troublesome persistence. She refused to take no for an answer, and eventually the judge gave her justice in her case. The point is NOT that God is like this judge. Rather, the point of the parable is, are we like this widow? Are we willing to persevere in prayer and not lose heart? Verse 8 makes clear that persistence in prayer takes faith.
Think about it
When we bring our requests to God, he often says yes, sometimes no and at times he makes us wait. God asks us to trust him — to trust his wisdom in giving us what is best and to trust his timing for the when. We are often impatient. We want what we want when we want it, and we want it now. But our Father’s wisdom and timing are impeccable. The question is will we trust him and keep on praying and rest in his goodness? Will we “always pray and not lose heart”?
A prayer for perseverance in prayer
“God my Father, forgive me for being so impatient and for treating you more like a butler than a loving father. Teach me all the good lessons of waiting. Help me to trust you with my whole heart and lean not on my own way of figuring everything out. Thank you for saying yes, but thank you also for the times you have said no in your infinite wisdom. By your Holy Spirit, help me to always pray and not lose heart, to persevere in both faith and prayer and trust you completely without reservation. In my Savior’s name, amen.”
Pray the Psalms
Psalm 4: Answer Me When I Call
To read more of God’s word
Isaiah 40, Proverbs 3:5-6, Romans 11:33-36
