Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

This is week #7 of our Stories series. This is easily the longest series that we’re doing all year here at ACC…but it’s also been one of the best. Not because I’m that good, but because Jesus is that good. We’re spending the summer listening to His stories. And when you spend a lot of time listening to Jesus, it’s really hard to go wrong.

Today we’re tackling one of the more difficult stories that Jesus ever told: The Parable of the Persistent Widow. We’re in Luke 18 today. This one can be really tough, so let’s get ourselves prayed up before we dive into the story.

Luke 18, starting in verse 1. Here we go. “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 about men.

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 about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

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, NIV)

This one’s tough. But we’re going to dig deep into this story and through this difficult story, we’re going to hear the voice of Jesus today. And as we hear His voice through this story, it will change us.

So let’s go back and walk through the story step-by-step. Luke gives us a rare explanation of this parable right up front. Even though this story has some tough parts to it, there is no wondering about the ultimate point of this story because the Bible tells us the point right up front. We are specifically told that this parable teaches us that we should always pray and not give up.

The characters in this story are easily understood. One is a widow, who was one of the most unfortunate and helpless people in that society. We might picture an older woman, but that’s not necessarily the case. Given the life expectancy in this time period, she could have been as young as her thirties. Being a widow in this culture meant that she was in a desperate situation. Women didn’t work, so she had no way to provide for herself. She was completely reliant on the help of others. And widows were often targets by con men and thieves. That’s the situation of the widow in our story. And her only hope against her enemy is the second character in our story: the judge.

This judge was a powerful, influential man. He was also a hard, unjust man. Jesus said this judge, “neither feared God nor cared about men.” And unfortunately, this was the only man who could grant the widow justice against her adversary. This judge was the widow’s only hope.

Because of his hard, calloused heart, he showed complete indifference to the widow’s plight. He never ruled in her favor. She never found the justice she desperately needed. But she kept coming back.

Eventually, the judge figured out that this lady wasn’t going to give up. She kept coming back seeking justice again and again and again.

Jesus said that, “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' " (Luke 18:4-5, NIV)

This lady was not going to quit. If he didn’t rule in her favor, she was just going to keep coming back. And in this culture, the judge had to hear the widow’s case. One of the few rights that widows had was that their case must be heard by the judge in their district. So every time the judge held court, this woman was there.

She was going to wear him out if something didn’t change. So he finally ruled in her favor, giving her the justice that she needed.

Now, this is what makes this parable more difficult than many of Jesus’ other stories. Remember that parables are meant to illustrate what life is like the in the Kingdom of God. Jesus told us this story to teach us about prayer.

The widow in the story represents us. But what makes this story so difficult is that Jesus seems to be comparing God to the unjust judge. And so, at first glance, it seems like Jesus is saying that if we nag God long enough, even though He doesn’t care about us, He’ll act on our behalf just so we’ll quit bothering Him.

Anybody else have a problem with that? You should. That is a contradiction of everything we know about God from the rest of the Bible. That is a contradiction of many things that Jesus said Himself.

But if we keep going, Jesus explains the parable to us. Pick it up in verse 6. I think the New Living Translation of the Bible says it best. “Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?” (Luke 18:6-7, NLT)

Instead of a comparison, Jesus is actually drawing a point of contrast between the judge and God.

Jesus is saying that if an unjust judge, who doesn’t give a rip about people, will finally grant justice, how do you think a loving God will respond to the cries of His people? Jesus’ whole point is that, when we pray, we’re not bringing our request to some uncaring, disconnected judge. We’re taking our needs to our loving Heavenly Father. The widow finally received justice because of her persistent requests to a wicked judge. If that’s the case, how do you think God will respond to the persistent prayers of His children?

But there is where many of us drop the ball. One of the main points of this story is that Jesus is calling us to be persistent in prayer.

Too many of us give up way too easily when it comes to prayer.

The Bible says that Jesus gave us this parable to remind us that we “should always pray and not give up.” If you have your Bible, underline the words “always” and “not.”

“Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”

Too many of us live with these words in the reverse order. We live like Jesus told us that we should “not pray and always give up.”

Seriously, there are so many people who claim that they follow the victorious, risen Christ…the one who conquered death…and yet they will give up the minute that the road gets the slightest bit bumpy.

And the reason is that prayer is AWOL in their lives. If you want to live a defeated life, don’t pray. You’ll get your wish. Your problems will seem insurmountable. You will worry constantly. You’ll consume yourself with what people think of you instead of what God thinks of you. Instead of optimism of what could happen, there will be pessimism about what might happen. Instead of vision, there will be anxiety. Instead of courage, there will be fear. Instead of victory, there will be defeat.

For some of you, I just described the way you live your life every single day. And you can trace it all back to lack of prayer. If you think that doesn’t sound like a big deal, let me tell you why it is a HUGE deal.

When you stop praying, you lose your connection to God. And when you lose your connection to God, you lose sight of His will for your life. And when that happens, you begin to pursue your own will for your life. That essentially means that you have set yourself up as God in your life. And, as good as you think you might be, I’ll tell you this…you suck at being God. You can’t play that part well. So when you are the God of your life, everything begins to fall apart. And you can trace every single bit of it back to the fact that you are living a prayerless life.

Jesus didn’t tell us to “not pray and always give up.” He commands us to “always pray and not give up.” It’s the difference between victory and defeat. It’s the difference between production and destruction. Ultimately, it’s the difference between life and death. And if you think I’m overstating it, go ahead and keep going in your prayerless life. Be the God over your own life. Watch things fall apart.

Or…you can reconnect with your Heavenly Father. You can allow Him to realign the priorities and purposes of your life. You can let God be God. And you can be you. I promise that it will work out much, much better that way.

Jesus commands His followers to “always pray and not give up.” That’s a call for persistence. It’s a call for us to be tenacious in the way we pray. God hasn’t given up on us, and we won’t give up on Him. We’ll keep praying. We’ll keep coming to Him. We’ll keep seeking Him.

At the end of his letter to the Colossian church, listen what the Apostle Paul told them.

“Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.” (Colossians 4:12, NIV)

Wrestling in prayer is not a picture of a “one and done” prayer. It is constant. It is ongoing. It is hard work.

When is the last time that prayer felt like a wrestling match for you? You put so much into it that by the time your prayer ended, you were spent. Absolutely wiped out.

I have prayed those prayers. You probably have, too. But they are usually reserved for times of trouble or pain. These times of prayer come when we are desperate for God because we don’t know what we’re going to do.

One time when our son, Ryan, was a baby, we were out driving. We had a little SUV at the time. I was driving while Ryan was sleeping in the backseat. We were out in the country, on a road that wasn’t even paved. It had been raining incessantly for weeks and the creek next to the gravel road we were on was flooded. I came to a point where the creek was running over the road.

Now, there had been so much rain in the area that I had seen countless news stories about flooded roads. All of them said, “Never drive over a flooded road. You don’t know how deep it is. Just don’t do it.” Not to mention the fact that there was a huge “ROAD CLOSED” sign sitting right in front of me.

So, with all that in mind, I shifted into four-wheel drive, drove around the sign, and proceeded to drive over the flooded road. It would have cost me a lot of time to backtrack and find another way around this water. And I was in a four-wheel drive vehicle. And, on top of all of that, I’m a man. And I was going to do the manly thing and drive through the water in four-wheel drive!

Not a good idea. I quickly figured out that everything I heard on the news was right. You really CAN’T tell how deep the water over the road is. I though it might come halfway up my tires. I’m not kidding…it was flowing up over the hood. The engine started to sputter. I felt the water start to push us off to the side of the road. Meanwhile, our baby was sound asleep in the backseat.

You know what I did? I prayed! I shifted into prayer-wheel drive real quick! I started telling God how stupid I was, as if He didn’t already know that. I was praying for the safety of our baby. I was praying the engine would keep running. I was praying the tires would stay in contact with the road. I prayed, out loud, the entire way across that flooded road. And I’m absolutely convinced that God is the only reason we made it across. The water was deep. It was flowing way faster than I ever dreamed. There is no reason at all that we should have made it, except that God immediately responded to my prayer.

I was a perfect idiot in that situation…and God used it to teach me something. I learned a lot about the power of prayer. I learned what it means to be completely desperate for God. I learned what it means to wrestle in prayer.

Most of you have been there. Well, most of you are probably smarter than I am. You might not have found yourself on a flooded road, but you have been in situations where you were desperate for God. Where you wrestled in prayer.

But we don’t usually wrestle in prayer when things are going good, do we? We don’t wrestle in prayer when we’re not desperate for God. But see, there’s the problem right there.

We are always desperate for God. You might not realize it, but there isn’t one second of your life when you are not desperate for God.

So we need to pray like that’s true. Sometimes that means long, extended, agonizing prayers. Other times that simply means shorter prayers throughout your day. But you and I are desperate for God, and prayer is our connection to God. When we lose that connection, our desperation turns into destruction.

That’s why 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is in the Bible. The Bible says to,

• “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17, NIV)
• “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17, KJV)
• “pray all the time” (1 Thessalonians 5:17, The Message)
• “Never stop praying.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17, NLT)

Get the picture? If you are a believer, prayer is part of the rhythm of your life. It is constant. It requires effort. Sometimes it is a long, passionate request. Other times it is just a constant connection with God through your day. The point is that we are called to be persistent in prayer.

Now, that brings up a great question. Why? Why would God want us to be so persistent in prayer? If He really loves us, why doesn’t He just answer our prayer the first time around? Why do we have to be persistent like the widow in our story? And more specifically, why do we have to constantly pray for the same thing? Wouldn’t a loving God answer our prayer the first time?

Let’s talk about a few possible reasons why God doesn’t answer some of our prayers the first time around.

1. He needs to teach us patience and perseverance. How many of you parents give your kids everything they want, exactly when they want it? If you do, you are raising a spoiled brat and you need a parenting message more than a prayer message.

Good parents don’t always give their children instant gratification. We want them to learn patience. We want to teach them perseverance.

But many of those same good parents become bratty kids when it comes to their Heavenly Father. They don’t give their kids whatever they want whenever they want it, but that’s exactly what they expect God to do for them.

God is a good Dad. And like any good dad, His kids don’t always get what they want when they want it.

2. Another reason He might delay His answer is because we need to grow so we are ready to receive the blessing we are praying for.

Our boy, Ryan, is all about animals right now. Everything he watches, every book we read, everything he talks about is animals. He wants to be a zookeeper when he grows up.

So, it’s not surprising that Ryan decided that he wanted a pet for his birthday. We got him a couple of hermit crabs.

Now, being the animal freak that he is, Ryan would have been thrilled if we bought him a rhinoceros for his birthday. But we decided he was ready for hermit crabs. He can play with those bigger animals after college when he lands a job as a zookeeper. But we’re pretty sure he’s not ready right now. We gave him the blessing that he could handle.

Sometimes when we pray, we ask God for a rhino when we’re only ready for hermit crabs. God knows what you can handle and when you can handle it. And that means that, even if you ask for it, He won’t give you a blessing that you’re not ready to handle.

3. We need to learn to trust God in all times…even the times when he is silent. Now we’re getting into tougher territory. There are times when our prayers aren’t met with a “yes” or a “no.” They’re just met with silence.

Those are the times that will take you in one of two directions. It can either take you away from God completely, or it can drive you to a depth of faith that you didn’t even know was possible. It’s not fun. Nobody wants to go through these times…but everybody does.

4. We are praying outside the will of God. No matter how much you pray for something, if it is outside of God’s will, He will bless it. You can’t receive God’s blessings outside of God’s will.

But if we consistently run to God’s Word and persistently pray, we will come into alignment with His will. Our priorities will come into alignment with God’s Word, which means our prayers will come into the same alignment.

5. God is sovereign. In reality, this is what we need to remember when it comes to prayer. Specifically when it comes to unanswered prayer.

The very hard, but very real, truth is that God is sovereign. That means that God doesn’t owe me anything. And it means that God doesn’t owe you anything. He doesn’t owe us an answered prayer. I know that’s tough. I know it’s not comforting. But it is true. If you want a right perspective on prayer, you’ve got to have a right perspective on God. And the simple truth is that God is supreme. He is sovereign. And that means that He doesn’t owe us anything.

Now, that doesn’t mean that God will never answer our prayers. Along with being sovereign, God is also loving and compassionate. Sometimes prayers don’t get answered, and we won’t always understand why. But many times, just the opposite is true. The Bible promises that, much of the time, God will answer our prayers.

Go back to the end of our story. Jesus said, “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.” (Luke 18:7-8a, NIV)

God answers prayer. This doesn’t mean that He always answers like we think He should. It doesn’t mean that we’ll never have a prayer that isn’t answered the way we want.

But Jesus does say that God will respond to the cries of His people. But there is a word here that bothers me. “Quickly.”

Jesus said that the answer to our prayer will come quickly. There are times when it doesn’t seem like God answers prayers quickly at all.

Jesus is looking at things through the lens of eternity. In the scope of eternity, our problems here are no longer than the blink of an eye.

In 2 Corinthians, the Bible says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17, NIV)

Our troubles don’t feel “light and momentary” right now. But that’s exactly what they are in the scope of eternity. Whatever you are dealing with in your life, it will be worth it once you see Jesus face to face. And even though it seems like it will never end right now, it will. The only thing that is eternal is eternity. Whatever you’re facing down in your life…even if it feels eternal…I promise you that it’s not.

But at the end of our parable, Jesus openly wonders if he will “find faith on the earth?” Jesus is coming back. But Jesus asks the question, “Will I find any faith on the earth when I come back?”

That’s because He knows that a lot of people will fall away from him once they hit a rough patch in their lives. A lot of people have a faith that will wilt when hard times come.

It forces every one of us to ask some questions. Do I trust Jesus only when things are going good? What about when life falls apart? Can I trust Him when nothing in my life makes sense? Can I keep praying, keep seeking Him, keeping running to Him, keep trusting Him even if nothing seems to be going my way?

I want to show you a Scripture that, at first, will seem completely off the subject. But hang with me.

In 2 Kings 3, the Bible tells us, "This is what the LORD says: Make this valley full of ditches. For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD…” (2 Kings 3:16-18a, NIV)

God gave this command through the prophet Elisha. A severe drought was coming. So He commanded the people to go to the valley and dig ditches. A lot of ditches. He commanded them to fill the valley with these ditches.

Then, when the dry time began, God would fill the ditches with water for them and their livestock. It didn’t make sense. It was an impossible plan for the people, but Elisha reminded them that, “This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD.”

Prayer is ditch digging. It’s what keeps our lives watered in the driest seasons. And did you notice where God told the people to dig their ditches? In the lowest valley.

In your driest, lowest time, prayer is your water. I can’t promise you that God will answer your prayer when you want in the way you want. But I can tell you this…even if you don’t think you’re getting the “right answer,” your connection to God in hard times is doing more than you even realize. God is working behind the scenes in ways that you’re not even aware of yet. It might not always make sense.

But you’ve got to hang on to this promise from the book of Philippians. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6, ESV)

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has started a good work in you. And God will not quit on you. Don’t quit on Him.

Keep praying. Keep digging ditches. Even when everything seems to be drying up in your life. God can fill those ditches with life-giving water. It’s an impossible thing for us to do, but it is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Luke 18, Parable of the Persistent Widow, prayer, Stories, unanswered prayer