‘TO PRAY AND NOT LOSE HEART’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on June 23, 2021 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: June 23, 2021 from Luke Luke 18:1-8

Theme: We ought always pray and not lose heart.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning, we look at a parable from our Lord that has been a precious encouragement to His followers throughout the centuries. It’s a parable about the important subject of prayer.

Jesus had been teaching His disciples some things that they needed to know about His promised return. And then, Luke tells us—in Luke 18:1-8;

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1-8).

It’s hard to find a greater encouragement to keep on praying—and from a higher authority—than what we find in these words from our Lord.

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Now; consider the characters of His parable. First, there is a widow. She would have been one of the most helpless of people in Jesus’ day. Perhaps someone took some kind of advantage of her and left her destitute; and was, for that reason, seeking justice from her adversary. But no one would have gained any benefit from helping her. If she needed to petition for justice in a court of law, it’s unlikely that she could have afforded anyone to advocate for her. She would have been utterly on her own. And second, there’s the judge. It was his duty to defend someone like her. But he wouldn’t do it. Jesus characterized him as a man who neither feared God nor respected men. Hardly anyone would have been heard by such a hard-hearted man as him—let alone a poor, destitute widow from whom he would have gained nothing in helping.

These two principal characters are intended to present us with a contrast. When it comes to God, dear brothers and sisters, you and I are not like this widow. We are not ‘widows’ at all! We are the bride of Christ. We are the precious people of God who are redeemed by the blood of His Son. Jesus even said that we are God’s “elect”. And God the Father is not at all like that judge. He is not hard-hearted and unjust. He does not disrespect people or disregard their needs. He hears their appeals to Him—especially when they are His elect. He longs to answer us when we cry out to Him, because He loves us.

In this parable, then, our Lord uses these contrasts to present us with a form of argument from the lessor to the greater. If a poor, helpless, humanly unimportant widow would have her persistent petitions heard and answered by even a hard-hearted, insensitive, unwilling judge when she kept at it; then how much more will the persistent prayers of the precious elect of God through faith in Jesus Christ be heard by their loving heavenly Father?

Our Father can answer us at any time. But clearly, what He wants from us is a faith in Him that’s demonstrated by persistent and faithful prayer. Will He get from us what He wants?

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Look closely, then, at this passage in terms of …

1. ITS THEME (v. 1).

We’re really not left to wonder what this parable is about. It’s as if the Holy Spirit knew how much we needed to hear and understand this parable; so He left the ‘keys’—so to speak—hanging for us in ‘the door lock’. We’re told in verse 1; “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart …”

When this passage says “men”, it’s not talking only about males. The word “men” doesn’t appear in the original text. Rather, the meaning is that all those who are followers of Jesus—both women and men—ought to pray and not give up. It’s not just a good idea that they do so; but Jesus said that they ‘ought’ to do so. And there’s an important point being made to us—somewhat between the lines—in the telling of this parable to those who are his followers. Have you ever considered that the Lord would not have given us this parable if it weren’t for the fact that He already knew in advance that we would be tempted to give up and that we need to be encouraged to keep on praying? We all too often throw up our hands and say, “What’s the use? Why pray any longer? It doesn’t seem as if it does any good!”—never realizing that that’s exactly what our Lord knew we’d be tempted to say!

This parable has been given to us—in part—to let us know that there would be times when we would be tempted to give up. And our Lord teaches us not to give up—to keep on praying.

And then, consider how the Lord teaches this to us. This takes us to …

2. THE PARABLE ITSELF (vv. 2-5).

Beginning in verse 2, our Lord spoke “saying: ‘There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.’” What a judge that would be to have to go before! If he at least had reverence for God, he might also have had regard for people. But with no fear of God in him, he had no care for people either. He wouldn’t have had any sense of duty or obligation to his fellow man. He would not have had any reliable measure by which to understand true justice. He would only be concerned for himself. Even if you were an upstanding and worthy citizen, you wouldn’t have had much hope of vindication from a judge like him.

And then, Jesus went on to say in verse 3, “Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’” But why should this judge help her? There wouldn’t have been anything in it for him. A widow could do him no good. But this wasn’t just any ol’ widow. She wouldn’t take no for an answer! The way that the Lord Jesus puts it in the original text of this passage is in what’s called ‘the imperfect tense’; and the way to understand that is that she didn’t just come once; or that she wasn’t just coming then; but that she was coming repeatedly—again and again—over and over—saying “Get justice for me from my adversary.” Perhaps she confronted him on the street. Perhaps she knocked on his door at night. She was persistent—and would not give up.

Jesus went on to say, in verses 4-5, that—for a while—the judge would not help her. He just ignored her plea. But afterward, because she was persistent and kept on coming and making her plea to him, “he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” The word that’s translated ‘to weary’ is a very interesting one. Its original meaning is ‘to strike below the eye’. It’s the same word that Paul used in 1 Corinthians 9:27; when he said that he “buffeted” or “disciplined” his body. Some have taken this to mean that the judge was becoming afraid that, if he kept denying this widow, she’d hear ‘no’ one time too many and would sock him and give him a black eye. But that’s not very likely. Probably the way we should understand this is that the judge was afraid that if this kept up, he’d never get any rest—and would pretty soon have dark circles around his eyes from not sleeping. Finally, he relented and gave the woman justice—not because of any respect that he had for her, but only because she wouldn’t let up and he wanted to be rid of her.

Now; it’s important to understand that we’re not being told that God is like that. We are not a mere ‘widow’ to Him. We are His precious children. And He is not so cold-hearted toward us that He needs to be wearied and harassed into answering our prayers. After all, we have a wonderful promise from the Father:

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15).

And that leads us to what else we find in this passage; and that’s …

3. THE PROMISE IT CONTAINS (vv. 6-8a).

In verse 6, we read, “Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said.’” That’s not a question; as if the Lord were asking us; “Do you hear what the unjust judge said?” It’s in the form of a command; “Hear what he said.” Consider it. Think about it carefully. What did he say? He said, “Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” And if a widow could make an unjust judge say something like that because of her persistence of asking, then how much more will our heavenly Father respond favorably to us? And so, Jesus went on to say, in verse 7, “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?”

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus added the phrase, “though He bears long with them”? Your first thought on hearing it might be that this is speaking of God’s patient endurance with the requests of His people—as if He was ‘putting up’ with the fact that they constantly ask Him. But that wouldn’t make sense in light of the whole point of the parable. Rather, in this context, what it most likely means is that God hears the prayers of His people, and longs to answer; but knows the perfect time to do so. He hears our plea, and longs to relieve us of our suffering or meet our need—He is poised and ready to do so, and is almost yearning to do so—but He holds off and “bears long” with the prayers of His people until the faith He wants to see in them is fully developed, and the right time comes to answer.

Think of the words of the apostle Paul. He wrote about “a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Many believe it was a chronic illness of some kind, or perhaps a disease in his eyes. He wrote;

Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 8-10).

God wasn’t ignoring Paul’s prayers. He loved Paul. But he bore long with those repeated prayers; because He knew that the need Paul experienced was producing something of greater value in Paul’s spirit. We should remember that when God does not seem to answer our prayers, it’s not because He doesn’t care. Rather, He longs to answer their prayers—but only when the time is right to do so. And when that right time comes, and when the real need has been met, then He answers. Jesus says in verse 8, “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.”

If we’re thinking about it as we should, we’d understand that God’s seeming delay is actually an expression of His love.

But that leads us to a last thing we need to notice from the lesson of this parable; and that’s …

4. THE QUESTION OUR LORD ASKS (v. 8b).

In verse 8, Jesus asks, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” It’s not a question that we need to answer out loud. It’s a rhetorical question that is meant to make us pause and think. God the Father is good to us, and He cares for us deeply. He hears our prayers and will meet the need in the right time. But the great question is whether or not He will get from us what He wants from us. Will we trust Him and keep asking?

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There’s a story in the New Testament that sounds very much like our Lord’s parable. And it was an occasion when a needy woman came to Him! Matthew 15:21-28 says;

Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour (Matthew 15:22-28).

Our Lord wasn’t ignoring her. He was ready to answer her request when He heard the kind of faith from her that He wanted to hear. And the same is true with us. Our heavenly Father will surely answer His people—and answer speedily—when our hearts are where He wants them.

“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

EA