“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 18:7-8
One of the devices Jesus used to teach us truth is giving a human scenario we can easily understand, and then comparing it to our relationship with God.
In Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of a widow who keeps coming to an unjust judge who doesn’t fear God or care about the widow, but eventually gives her justice because she won’t give up. In the text above, He’s trying to instill confidence in us because we are His chosen, not widows, and we are coming before a God who deeply loves us and wants justice on the earth more than we do. Where the unjust judge delays unnecessarily, Jesus says the chosen can expect justice quickly as they cry out to God.
Yet the whole story is about how we deal with delay. Luke gives us the point before he tells the parable: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18:1) We will feel at times like God doesn’t care and that we have no position of importance before Him which will tempt us to give up on our prayers. Jesus is encouraging us to fight through these feelings and to keep believing.
He ends the parable with a question for us to consider: “When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” In essence, here’s what I think He’s saying: “The Father is always good and will never give up on you. He can be counted on to do His part, but will you do yours? Will you give up on God because it seems He doesn’t hear?”
Jesus wants us to believe that God can change any circumstance where darkness has tried to “kill, steal, and destroy” us or our loved ones. He wants us to believe while we pray, and to keep believing during delays. Asking for justice is similar to praying: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” May all of our hearts be filled with confidence that this is possible no matter how long evil seems to have its way. A believer’s job is to believe. Let’s believe and keep believing for His glory, and our good.
One Thing 