It is also to teach us, because anything that Jesus is teaching His disciples, He is teaching to us as well. He gave us this parable to show us that we should always pray and never give up.
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?” (Lk. 18:1-8)
We just read that Jesus spoke a parable to them to show that men “always ought to pray and not lose heart.” That is the New King James Version. The New Living Translation says: “To show that they should always pray and never give up.” The English Standard Version says: “That they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” The New American Standard says: “That at all times, they ought to pray and not become discouraged.”
The Lord is not saying that God is like the unjust judge. Quite the opposite: that God is moved by compassion to respond to prayer, and that God does respond to prayer. But we might become discouraged, give up, and lose heart. And so, the purpose of this parable is to encourage us always to pray, not give up, not become discouraged. Right along with that, He asked the question: “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” So, this ties into Believe, which is the Second Essential Teaching.
God is not like an unjust judge who does not want to do anything, but if you annoy him long enough, eventually you can get him to give in to what you want. It is the opposite of that. “How much more will God avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, even though He bears long with them?”
The Mystery of Unanswered Prayer
Sometimes when we pray we do not see the result right away. And we sometimes lose faith, or we become disappointed. So, Jesus is giving this parable. There are circumstances and situations that you and I are not aware of. Sometimes when we pray, we do not get the answer we want, or we do not get it in the timing that we want. It is easy in those situations to become frustrated, to become disappointed. This is why Jesus is giving the parable: to teach them that they ought always to pray. It is also to teach us, because anything that Jesus is teaching His disciples, He is teaching to us as well. He gave us this parable to show us that we should always pray and never give up.
Never give up. Never give up. Always pray. Always pray. Prayer should not be the last resort, it should be the first resort. The challenge is not with God; the challenge is with us. Will we be persistent in prayer? Or will we lose heart? Will we become discouraged when the answer does not come right away?
We can illustrate this by thinking back to Daniel. He began to fast and to pray and to intercede on behalf of Israel. And he fasted, and he prayed and interceded for 21 days. Then the angel appeared to him with the answer, and said, “From the first day that you began to pray, Daniel, I was dispatched from Heaven, to respond and to give you the answer to your prayer. But for 21 days, there was spiritual warfare going on. And it took three weeks before the answer could arrive.”[1]
Now, I do not pretend to understand all of the things going on behind the scenes and what that statement means except just to take it at face value. There is in the world that we live in a great spiritual darkness, a great spiritual evil. There are elements in this universe that resist the Lord, resist His will, resist His purpose. We are not living in an environment or in a situation where you can expect to get instantaneous answers to your prayers. Sometimes that is the case; sometimes that is not the case. And I cannot sit here and tell you why it is that in some situations we seem to get the answer we want, why it is that in some situations we get the answer almost immediately (or very quickly.) And why in other situations it seems we do not get what we are praying for, or we do not get it as speedily as we want. I do not have the answers for that. And if you, or anyone, claims to have the answers to that, then I think they do not know what they are talking about.
The point of Jesus’ parable is not to explain the mysteries of why God does not seem to answer some prayers. It is not to explain why God sometimes seems slow to respond to prayer. We can make those assumptions from other Scriptures. But the point is that regardless of how long it takes, regardless of whatever resistance we may encounter, regardless of what we see, regardless of what we hear, regardless of what we feel, or what we experience, it is not a question of God answering the prayer – it is a question of us prevailing in prayer.
That is why Jesus ends this with a rhetorical question: “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Faith is belief and trust. As we said previously, faith is trusting that God is Who He says He is, and that God will do what He says He will do. If you believe God, you will be a person of prayer, because you trust that God hears you when you pray, and you trust that God answers you when you pray.
So prayer (or prayerlessness) all comes down to belief. If you believe God is Who He says He is, and that God will do what He says He will do, you will pray and not quit. You will be persistent in prayer. You will prevail in prayer. For Jesus, the question is: When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? Will He find the kind of faith that is not moved by circumstances? Will He find the kind of faith that prevails in prayer? Or, will He find a lot of lukewarm people who can only pray and believe God when things are going good? When prayers are being answered? When they have perfect health? When they have financial and material prosperity? Then it is easy to pray. It is easy to praise God when things are going great. But the true test of our faith is not when things are going well, but when things are going not so well.
We discussed previously how the testing of your faith works patience.[2] This is what Jesus is getting at here. He gave them a parable to teach them that they ought always to pray and not become discouraged, not lose heart, never give up. The question is, when He returns, how many people will actually be hanging on to that faith, that persistence, that they really and truly 100% Believe that God is Who He says He is and that God will do what He says He will do? Will He find people of faith in the earth when He returns? That is a good question, isn’t it?
Another Parable of Prayer
The parable that follows after this one is also about prayer: the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Jesus says…
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men–extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lk. 18:10-14)
There is a clue right there as to why some prayers may be answered, and some may not be. We will talk about that a little later. But the point of this parable shows that God does hear us when we pray, and this is why we must always pray and never give up.
You say, “Well, Brother Chip, you don’t understand. I’ve been praying for this thing for years and years and years, and God hasn’t answered my prayer!” The point of this is that you always pray and never give up. Always pray, never give up. Always pray, and do not lose heart. Always pray, and do not become discouraged. You say, “But I am discouraged! I do not have the answer to my prayer!” You pray all the time and do not become discouraged. Do not lose heart. Do not give up. Continue to pray. Continue to pray.
In the early, early days of my ministry on the Internet we had a prayer ministry that we called P.U.S.H. That was an acronym for Pray Until Something Happens. Pray Until Something Happens! And time and time again, we have been tested. You have been tested in your praying and your interceding. Sometimes the answer comes; sometimes it does not. And there is that chasm in-between where you are apt to become discouraged. I get that. I understand that. I relate to that. I have experienced that, and still do from time-to-time.
But I always go back to Luke 18. “He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.” Because, you see, that is exactly why there is this resistance. These obstacles, these difficulties, are intended to shake your faith, to get you to not pray, to stop praying. What if Daniel had stopped praying after a week, or after 10 days, or after 14 days, or after 20 days? Perhaps that angel would have had to return and the answer would not have been delivered. But Daniel persisted in prayer. And Jesus is giving us this parable, as well as this teaching, to show us that we must always pray and not become discouraged.
[1] Dan. 10:12, 13.
[2] Jas. 1:3.
