Persist in Prayer
Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, 2saying, “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. 3And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 4“And for a while he was unwilling, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming she wears me out.’” 6And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; 7now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? 8“I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:1-8
It is interesting that Jesus inserts the theme of prayer as a conclusion to His previous teaching. Jesus asked his disciples to consider the arguments of the unjust judge. What a cruel paradox: a judge who was expected to be fair and impartial only produced injustice and immorality, but even so, the perseverance of an old woman produced something good in him, even if his decision was for the wrong reasons.
Therefore, God, who is a just judge, will do justice to His people and His children. God is ready to defend His children in the midst of opposition, rejection, and persecution. Because as we can see, the enemy is using all kinds of tricks and traps day by day because he is looking to undo the most sacred institution that God has established on this Earth: the family.
God's project is to establish a kingdom of justice, so it is impossible to just think that He would not listen to the cry of those who love and practice justice. Do you love Justice? Because that is what we must practice and manifest in our daily lives.
Jesus does not detail the crime or the adversary because the theme or main issue is not there but in the attitude of perseverance and insistence, that is...Prayer!
At the end of the parable, Jesus asks if the disciples would have the same attitude as the widow regarding perseverance. Jesus did not ask the question out of ignorance; in fact, in his omniscience he knows everything about our future. He, too, did not doubt whether there would be faithful servants when He returns at his second coming.
Jesus’ purpose for asking this question is to encourage the disciples to be faithful to prayer and to persevere in it. It is a rhetorical way of saying “If God is going to listen to you, it is obvious that you remain constant and persevering in prayer.”
The parable rests on the certainty of the kingdom of God; however, what is questioned in the end is the attitude of the redeemed human being. God can be fully trusted, but can perseverance be expected from redeemed people? In other words, and in general terms, will faith be found on earth? So, the converts’ responsibility is to trust and to be loyal and obedient to their God and Heavenly Father, no matter what, no matter when.
And to tell the truth, God's responsibility is to see to our vindication. Jesus connects faith with perseverance. True faith translates into absolute perseverance despite the adversities and obstacles you experience. The true servant is faithful to persevere because although his head says one thing, he obeys his heart; he does not live by emotion but by conviction. On occasions, humanly speaking, he would like to turn back...but his spirit tells him: Go forward till the end.
We persevere because we are already children of God; we do not persevere to become children of God!
In addition, perseverance has a purpose: God needs us, not because we are important or essential but because He decided to use us for the proclamation of the gospel and the historical realization of His kingdom on this planet called Earth, and He wants to do this through the members of a FAMILY.
I have said it before and I will continue to say it always…O.V.B. C., we are a family…we support each other in our weaknesses and we help each other with our failures, but we rejoice in our victories.
That is why I have to persevere daily…“Praying For My Family,”
ROY SOTO