Should you be asking God, in prayer, for the same thing, over and
over again? Someone recently said, “No!”
“God knows your need. Just ask Him once
and don’t keep bugging Him.” “Doesn’t
the Bible warn us not to keep coming to Him like a persistent nag?” Some say that
once you've asked God for something that is displays lack of faith to ask for
it again, since you ought to believe you already have received it (Mark 11:24).
But Jesus teaches clearly that we are to continue to pray until we receive the
answer. That continued pray is not a sign of little faith, but of persistent
faith.
Well let’s see. Luke 18:2–5 (NIV) reads,
2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who
neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a
widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice
against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he
said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5
yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so
that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ”
In the parable of the persistent widow, poor and powerless, persists
in nagging a corrupt, powerful Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should
always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18:1, NIV). The parable is somewhat shocking. Jesus
identifies the woman to us who pray. And
He identifies the unjust judge to God. Assuming Jesus does think His Father to
be unjust, what can He be getting at? Is
He not teaching us that if persistence pays off with someone corrupt, would not
the opposite: a loving, righteous God respond even faster and fairer?
Jesus’ comments on the parable are even more interesting. Luke records, “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 18:6–8, NIV) “The widow’s persistence reflected faith that her
request would be granted someday. Jesus calls on His followers to demonstrate
this same kind of faith as they wait for His return.”[1]
Rather than
persistence being a nagging annoyance, Christ views persistence as real and
vital faith. Faith is evidenced in
persistent patient praying. “The point
of the verse is that God patiently listens to his elect as they pray in their
continuing distress, waiting for the proper time to act on their behalf.”[2] Of course the inclusion of the Second Coming
modifies what we normally think of as “speedily”. “He may delay long, but He does so for good
reason (cf. 2 Pet. 3:8, 9) and when He acts,
[1] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S.,
Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Lk 18:8). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[2] Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis
CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/V. Teaching and Travels Toward Jerusalem
(9:51-19:44)/E. Further Teaching on Urgent Issues (14:1-18:30)/10. Parable of
the persistent widow (18:1-8), Book Version: 4.0.2
[3] MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1551). Nashville, TN:
Word Pub.
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