Determined in Prayer

The Parable of the Determined Widow

A little boy kept getting in trouble with teachers, parents, and neighbors. He prayed every night for God to help him, but nothing much changed. Finally one night he prayed this prayer, "God, if you can’t make me a better boy, don’t worry about it. I’m having a real good time as it is."

We all pray, but how determined are we in our prayers? Are we willing to spend the time to reach the throne room of heaven, or do we easily give up on God? In this parable in Luke 18, Jesus teaches an important lesson about perseverance in prayer. It might be good for us to learn the lesson that Christians have been learning for the past two thousand years.

Verse 1

And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Right away, Luke tells us why Jesus wanted to teach this parable. This is a lesson for us that we ought to always pray and not lose heart. I think many Christians don’t give God enough credit. We give up too easily in having our needs met. Of course it’s true that sometimes God tells us no or tells us to wait, but more often than not God wants to grant our petitions to him. There is something to be learned from praying even when it seems there is no answer. We learn important lessons in faith when we persevere in prayer and eventually see God’s miracle in our life, our family, or our church.

Christ’s purpose for this story was so that we would learn not to lose heart. No matter how bad your situation might seem, no matter how hopeless the circumstances, or how helpless you might feel, don’t lose heart. It may seem like God is far away and has abandoned you, but that is never the case. Instead, God wants you to learn how to persevere in your faith.

I ran across this great little saying about prayer, "Hem in the day with prayer and it will be less likely to unravel before night."

Verse 2

He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man."

With some of the strange rulings that some American judges have made in the past few years, you wonder if Jesus wasn’t talking about them!

The example Jesus gives is revealing. He tells the story of someone coming to a judge who didn’t care what people thought of him and didn’t care what God thought of him. He didn’t rule on cases based on merit or justice. We wonder how he could have been in his position of power. This example of an unrighteous judge was probably a rarity in Palestine. If the man were a Jewish official, he would feel obligated to honor God. And if he were a Roman official, according to Packer and Tenney, "The Romans held law and order above all other things. They treated conquered people with justice and tact."

As we will see, Jesus uses this extreme example as a contrast to the loving and merciful divine Judge. He is saying, If even this evil man will grant the woman’s petitions, how much more will your heavenly father grant your prayer requests.

Verse 3

And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, "Vindicate me against my adversary."

Remember years ago when you got married? Your future bride or groom was so perfect except for that one little flaw. And you have been trying to get them to fix that flaw ever since! We can be very persistent when it comes to changing our spouse. In fact, my wife has been working on me for thirty years and she still hasn’t given up! God wants us to have the same kind of determination in our prayer life.

This widow must have become very frustrated. Even though she was right in her cause, this immoral judge would not grant her petition to the court. But she did not give up. Notice that verse 3 tells us she "kept coming to him." This woman was determined to get a ruling from the judge. She would not give up, but kept on coming back again and again to plead her case.

God wants us to learn the same kind of persistence. There may be some prayers that we have to pray again and again. The widow didn’t give up and neither should we. Remember, Jesus taught this parable so we would learn important spiritual lessons about prayer. We don’t understand how prayer works or even why God uses this spiritual discipline. But we do know that prayer makes a difference. Jesus clearly wanted us to know that God honors persistent prayers.

As a widow, this woman would have been the most powerless in society. Others may have shunned her or ignored her, but God heard her pleas. Hendriksen comments, "Strikingly beautiful is what Scripture teaches with reference to widows, how God protects them, how he urges people to show kindness to them, blessing those who help them and punishing those who hurt them."

Verse 4a

For a while he refused.

The judge would not grant her petition. We know this judge was a wicked, heartless man, but God is not that way at all. Nevertheless, there are times when God delays his answer. I believe it is so that we can learn patience and perseverance. Faith does not grow when everything is smooth and easy; faith grows when we are facing suffering or trials.

God will sometimes refuse our requests or delay answering them. At those times we may become very frustrated and feel like giving up. As Habakkuk wrote in Habakkuk 1:2, "How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?" Many Christians have gone through trials of fire, and yet have still been steadfast in prayer and firm in their faith. The lesson we are supposed to learn from this parable is that God wants us to not lose heart. Never give up.

Verse 4b-5

But afterward he said to himself, "Though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming."

Have you ever noticed children with their parents at Toys-R-Us? They know how to plead and they are very persistent! You see the children know that if they make a big enough commotion, the chances are better that their parents are going to cave in and grant their request just to quiet them down! If you’ve been a parent in a situation like this, then you know exactly how the judge must have felt.

Let us learn the lesson that Christ is trying to teach us. This judge would not grant the widow’s request for the causes of justice or fairness or compassion. The only reason he vindicates her is because he is afraid he will be worn out by her continual coming. The one thing that gave this woman her ruling was her persistence. We know that God will act for the causes of justice, fairness, and compassion. So even more should we expect our persistence to pay off. This is not a hope based on our wishful thinking or our misunderstanding of God. This is exactly what Jesus is telling us - her requests were granted solely due to her perseverance - our prayers will be granted due to our persistence. Jesus is saying that we cannot grow weary of appealing to the heavenly court, because our determination is important to God. No other interpretation can be given for this parable. Jesus wants us to pray with perseverance.

Fuller remarks, "We should act with as much energy as if we expected everything from ourselves; and we should pray with as much earnestness as if we expected everything from God."

Verse 6

And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says."

Christ emphasizes again the words of the unrighteous judge, "I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming." God will not wear out from our continual prayers. He wants us to bring our petitions before him. God desires that we have faith that when we come before him, he will hear our requests and will grant our petitions.

No Prayer Is Unheard

There’s no problem too big and no question too small,
Just ask Jesus in faith and he’ll answer them all.
It’s not always at once, so be patient and wait,
For our Lord never comes too soon or too late.
So just trust in his love and believe in His word,
For no plea is ignored and no prayer is unheard.

Verse 7

And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?

Jesus is contrasting the love and mercy of God to this unrighteous judge. If even this unrighteous judge will grant the widow her request because of her persistent pleas, how much more will God vindicate those who are his chosen! Do you realize that you have been chosen by God? He reached down to you with compassion and forgiveness and called you out of darkness. Just as Jesus called Peter from his fishing and Matthew from his tax collecting to follow him, so he has called you and me to follow him. Since we have been chosen by God, don’t you think God will hear our prayers?

Jesus said God will vindicate those who cry to him day and night. Are we willing to be persistent in prayer day and night? Are we as determined as the widow was in this parable? Jesus gives us the promise at the end of verse 7. Even though the unrighteous judge delayed a long time before granting the widow her request, Jesus asks, Will God delay long? We know that God sometimes asks us to wait. But we also know that God loves us and wants to come to our aid.

The New Testament Commentary tells us, "Certainly God will not let his chosen ones down. From before the foundation of the world he has, of his sovereign will, elected them unto service and salvation, for his glory. He has loved them with an everlasting love. ... What God demands is that his people persevere in opening their hearts to him. He answers the supplications of those who ‘continue to cry to him day and night’."

Verse 8

I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?

To those who persevere in prayer, God will act speedily. This should encourage us to not give up, to not lose hope, or as verse 1 told us that we ought to always pray and not lose heart. God will answer us according to his divine clock and by his eternal timing. It may sometimes seem like it’s taking too long, but years later we will understand the purpose of God’s timing.

Jesus ends this parable with an interesting question - "when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" Do we have the faith to persevere in prayer? Or are we too easily discouraged, and do we too quickly allow doubts to squelch our faith? This parable teaches us that we must not give up, that we must remain determined in our prayers even when it seems like we have as little hope as the widow before the unrighteous judge. She could have easily quit, but she did not. She kept returning again and again to the court to make her plea.

God wants Christians on earth to have faith. God wants us to pray with confidence, assurance, and determination. Let us learn to be like the widow who was powerless in this world and yet moved the government powers of her day to grant her petition. As we pray, we are appealing to a far greater power. We may also feel powerless, but we are praying to the one who holds all the powers of the universe in his hand. Let us persevere in prayer and persevere in faith. And we will see that God answers speedily.

First Christian Web Site

Footnotes:

Fuller: Gray and Adams Bible Commentary, vol. 4, pg. 393, Zondervan Publishing Company



	A Study of Luke 18:1-8