22010.276 God WILL Answer

“And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! Won’t God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’” —Luke 18:6–8

As Jesus concludes the Parable of the Persistent Widow, he makes the point that if the unrighteous judge dispenses justice, how much more will God bring about perfect justice. This promise comes from the lips of our Lord as a gift to us as His praying people! God gives justice! God’s people are told to cry out to Him both day and night. This is our privilege, this is our duty, and for this He has promised mercy. We are to wrestle persistently with God in our prayers. Furthermore, we must not become discouraged if His answer seems delayed to us.

Paul tells us in Galatians:

“So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.” —Galatians 6:9–10

God desires for us to believe that He has our best interest at heart. Our Father wants us to approach Him both humbly and boldly with our requests.

David writes:

“I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your name, because of your loyal love and faithfulness, for you have exalted your promise above the entire sky. When I cried out for help, you answered me. You made me bold and energized me.” —Psalm 138:2–3

While the widow’s persistence was displeasing to the unrighteous judge, our persistence in prayer is pleasing to God. We must not become weary in our waiting or in our weeping. Discouragement and fear display our lack of faith. This is perhaps why Jesus closes the parable as He does:

“I tell you, he will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” —Luke 18:8

Become More

“I can pray this because his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, unselfish love. For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately.” —2 Peter 1:3–8

“(Why does God) bother to speak to us? The truly staggering answer that the Bible gives to this question is that God’s purpose in revelation is to make friends with us. It was to this end that he created us rational beings, bearing his image, able to think and hear and speak and love; he wanted there to be genuine personal affection and friendship, two-sided, between himself and us–a relation, not like that between a man and his dog, but like that of a father to his child, or a husband to his wife. Loving friendship between two persons has no ulterior motive; it is an end in itself. And this is God’s end in revelation. He speaks to us simply to fulfill the purpose for which we were made; that is, to bring into being a relationship in which he is a friend to us, and we to him, he finding his joy in giving us gifts and we finding ours in giving him thanks.” —J. I. Packer, God Has Spoken

Further Reflection

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” —Samuel Chadwick

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