A story Jesus gave about a widow and an unjust judge has been misinterpreted by some people. We don't need to pressurize God until He ultimately compromises and responses to our requests.
LUKE 18:1-8 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Jesus stated in verse 1 that He shared this parable to inspire us to keep praying.
The thought that we must repeatedly ask God the same thing until He eventually responds does not inspire faith or motivate us to pray.
Jesus is urging steadfastness in prayer, not steadfastness in making the same request repeatedly.
The phrase "lose heart" in verse one actually means to "not give in to evil." It implies giving up when facing hardship.
Jesus wanted to make it clear to us that we must keep praying to God and resist the evil we observe around us by using this story to illustrate his point. We shouldn't be cowards who stop being courageous and prayerful. We shouldn't attempt to interpret this story in a different way because Jesus made it clear that was its intended message.
The teaching of Jesus is that God is vastly superior to an unfair judge. Therefore, HOW MUCH MORE can we assume our great Father God to help us when we turn to Him if a poor widow could get help from an earthly judge who has no respect for what God thinks, much less than what people think.
Jesus explains His understanding of the story in verse 8: God will respond right away! We don't have to address God in the way this woman did the unjust judge, then!
Even though God responds quickly, the response may appear postponed to us as humans. Jesus might be telling, "Don't let your conditions demotivate you. You should have faith in God. Once you pray, He will hear you and respond right away. So continue to hope."
Why might individuals lose faith in prayer and stop doing it? Only if it appeared to fail. There wouldn't be any desire to give up praying if they consistently received prompt responses.
Jesus recounted this parable in order to inspire us to keep our faith despite the time it required for the solution to appear. God is compassionate, generous, and reliable, not like the unjust judge at all—so we can have confidence in him.
As a result, we are commanded to always pray in confidence. Knowing that God is at work and that our response is on the way, we are to be assured and keep looking to God. Knowing that, it would be stupid for us to repeatedly "ask" for the same thing.
The main concept of Jesus' recap in passage 8, which ends with a query about faith, is that God will be trustworthy. On Him, you can rely. There is no possibility that God will fail to respond to the calls of His people. But will His followers be truthful? Will they stand firm in their belief in God?
SAY THIS: God is a just and fair judgment
