By Allen White
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:1-8
I can honestly say that I pray every day. I can also honestly say that I am far more motivated to pray in times of crisis than in times of calm. When the pressure’s on, I tend to run to God quite a bit faster.
Jesus gave us this parable about the persistent widow seeking justice from an ungodly judge. Most of us don’t have an issue with asking. But, sometimes asking over and over begins to feel like begging and pleading and sometimes outright nagging. Is that what God wants from us? Is He making us beg for what we need?
The Bible tells us that God knows what we need before we even ask (Matthew 6:8). He doesn’t want us to beg, but He does want us to persevere.
Think about it this way – what if you stopped working out every time it hurt? What if you slowed down every time you felt uncomfortable in your workout? What would that get you? Probably back on the couch. No pain, no gain, right?
God wants you and I to make it to the end. In order to get there, He needs to build our persistence muscles. If God positively answered our prayers the first time we asked, He would become more of a vending machine than Our Lord.
Take this in – God knows what is best for us. God wants good things for us. Sometimes we don’t recognize what those good things are immediately, but we will know eventually. And, of course, our home in Heaven is our ultimate goal.
What are you about to give up on? Does God want you to quit? Sometimes God wants us to leave something. More often God wants us to stay and work it out. How do you need God to help you to stay?
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