187. The Parable of The Persistent Widow

Luke 18:1-8

Key Verse: "Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?

Luke 18:7

"Pray continually!"

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Jesus told His disciples this parable to encourage them to not give up praying. Jesus paints a picture of a gutsy widow who has no power or status in society up against a powerful judge who really doesn't care about anybody, including God Himself. In true selfish fashion, the judge only reluctantly heeds the widow's pleadings in order to get some peace for himself.

In telling this parable, Jesus takes the opportunity to contrast an unmerciful judge with the all-powerful and merciful heavenly Father. I think that too often, we are tempted to get it backwards. We see God like the unmerciful judge and we use our prayers to pester and pester to wear Him down in order to get our way. We forget how God described Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai. "The Lord, the Lord, the gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. (Exodus 34:6-7) If God is withholding, it is not because He is unloving, but because His time is not ours. We can trust in His character.

Think of your life with God as a parent child relationship. If you are a parent, do you want your child to be constantly pestering you about wants and needs, or do you desire a full relationship complete with trust, confessions, thanksgivings, "I love you” and best of all, deep heart felt sharing from the soul?

Paul tells us that, "Godliness with contentment is great gain." (1 Tim. 6:6) David describes having the heart of a contented child toward God. (Psalm 131) We know that Paul and David had their share of difficulties and they both spent much time in prayer, but their relationship of prayer with their heavenly Father was more than just begging to have their desires, or perhaps as in the case of this widow, perceived needs, met.

We should never stop praying. We should never stop seeking being in the center of God's will. We should never stop asking for His wisdom and guidance in all of our situations. We should never stop trusting and believing that He loves us and hears us and knows what is best for us. He is not the unmerciful judge, but your loving heavenly Father. Never stop seeking a deeper relationship with Him. Seek most to grow up in His grace to be content with what He gives. In Psalm 37:4, David says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Some might think that means he will give you whatever your heart desires. But what it really means is that as you delight yourself in the Lord, he will give you the desires that your heart should have. As you desire the Lord, he delights to give you more of himself. Put Him first and your priorities will fall into place.

Hymn: "Father, Hear the Prayer WeOffer"