1 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart: 2 “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

4 For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men, 5 yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice. Then she will stop wearing me out with her perpetual requests.’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the unjust judge. 7 Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help? 8 I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

REFLECTIONS

Written by Amelia Lin

In this passage, Jesus tells his disciples another parable about an unjust judge who eventually grants justice to a widow, due to her persistence and perpetual requests. Jesus then compares the unjust judge to God who is just. Jesus reminds us that God will bring about justice for his people … and he will do so promptly and gladly, unlike the unjust judge!

Jesus then leaves his disciples with a question: When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

It can be hard to continually pray, both throughout the day and for specific things. We can so easily get caught up in our daily business, or forget about something we said we would commit to praying for. Sometimes we can even lose heart when the things we do pray for seemingly don’t change or improve as we want them to.

I am encouraged by the persistence of the widow, who continued to persevere despite the unjust judge. We should have no excuse in persevering in prayer to a loving, just God who cares for us!

I am also reminded that God is just, and that he will hear and answers our prayers according to his good plans. When we don’t think our prayers are being answered, we can remember that God quickly brings about true justice – which he has already demonstrated for us, in Jesus who took our place on the cross. We really have no excuse to persist in praying to our just God!

Let’s ask God to help us continually and faithfully rely on Him through prayer, to make an effort to pray for big and small things throughout the day and to persist in our long-term prayer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amelia is a member of our Bossley Park Morning congregation.