The Danger of Despondent Prayer, v. 1, 8
Don't you love it when you understand the meaning of a Bible passage? It makes it much easier when Jesus explains the meaning of his parables, like in the parables of the sower and the weeds (Matt 13). In verse one, the passage explicitly declares the intent of the parable, "He told them a parable to the effect the they ought to always pray and not lose heart." The meaning is clear: keep on praying, even when your heart is despondent.
The danger of despondency is expressed in two places. In v. 1 Jesus says that people "lose heart." The Greek word means “to faint, lose heart, be discouraged, give up.” The second place is in v. 8 when Jesus wonders when he returns “will he find faith on the earth?” The key phrases complement each other, in other words, Christians may be so discouraged in faith that they just stop praying. There can be a number of reasons why you lose confidence in prayer. You might have rejected requests, when God says “no”. You don’t get what you ask for. Then you are embarrassed, frustrated for being wrong, or angry about not getting your will. Worse, you might be devastated when a terrible event occurs that you were praying against, such as the loss of a loved one. Perhaps there is no answer. You pray yet God remains silent, and the wait is tormenting. During prolonged hardship the waiting erodes our faith, and you begin to question whether God cares or is able to do anything. Sometimes you are uncertain what to pray for, because you don't know God’s will. Then you become fatalistic, and just resign to the fact that God is going to do what he is going to do.
In the face of these factors Jesus is intent that we keep on praying. The kind of prayer that Jesus is talking about is not simply repeating specific requests. It is about an overall disposition of trusting and calling on God always in your life. To “pray without ceasing” is not to engage in a protracted prayer meeting that never stops. Your whole life you are to be a person of prayer, no matter what. The whole church for the duration of its existence on this earth continues to cry out to God. This universal and eternal sense is evident by the reference to the return of the Son of Man. Will there be faith anywhere on the earth, or will all the hardship of life erode the faith of the church so much that it simply stops asking God for anything more? This is the danger we face, particularly when times are hard and they don’t seem to be getting better.
The Parable of Persevering Prayer, v. 2-6
He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men." (v.2)
Having addressed the danger of prayerlessness, the master teacher tells a parable. The first character in the story is the villain. He is an unjust judge “who neither feared God nor respected man.” This establishes his character. To “not fear God” means that he had no interest in justice or righteousness. To “not respect man” means that he did not care about people: an unrighteous and heartless judge.
Why would Jesus concoct such a loathsome character to be be compared with God? Isn’t this comparison offensive? Two reasons, when God is not answering prayer we kind of wonder if God does not care about justice or us. God seems like this judge. Second, and more importantly, Jesus is making an argument of “the harder to the easier,” a kind of “how much more” argument. If the widow’s persistent requests are effective with a bad judge, how much more will they work with a good God.
And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying,"Give me justice against my adversary."(v.3)
The hero of the story is the relentless widow who keeps bringing her request to the judge. It is helpful that we do not restrict the thrust of this parable to merely to some trivial legal dispute. The widow represents the poor and needy of this world. She represents Christians, who are the humble and poor. She presents a valid request to a judge for vindication against an enemy. She is under some kind of oppression in her life because of this foe. We tend to think about judges as court officers who only hand out punishments, but the judge represents a ruler who can solve her situation and grant goodness in her life. Judges gives punishments and rewards. They govern over life. So her plea is a cry for help. This is Christian prayer. Help me! Give me justice. O Lord, the Judge and Ruler of all the earth! Give me deliverance from my foe. This is essentially, thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Included within the widow's prayers would be any plea for salvation in your own life, the expansion of gospel witness throughout the world, and the transformation of governments and culture. We are praying for God's kingdom of justice to overturn a world full of corruption.
The parable contains a number of lessons. First we should expect delays in the answers to our prayers.The judge initially refuses her. The parable recognises that there will be a delay in an answer:“For a while he refused, but afterward...” Likewise, Jesus concedes a waiting period for the saints, “Will he delay long over them?” Second, there is a need for perpetual prayer. Since there is a delay, we must keep on praying. The widow “kept coming,” day after day. The judges says that the widow “keeps bothering me," And he answers her, so that she will “not beat me down.” The Greek is much more physical, it literally means to give me a black eye. Jesus recognises that the saints are they “who cry to him day and night.” (v. 7) So our ongoing prayer can be likened to a “beat down” on God. Lastly, due to this constancy of prayer her request is answered. Jesus says that we are to “Listen to the unjust judge.” The judge explains why he ultimately gave her justice: though I am not good, I will answer her because I want her to stop. So prayer works. Reformed Christians generally don’t like that saying, because it implies that praying itself brings the result, instead of God. But if we listen to Jesus he says that the answer comes due to the continuance of prayer. In a bygone era, Christians called this importunate prayer, the persevering solicitation of God. Our prayers are endowed with an inherent effectiveness. God respects our prayers. Since we are in a covenant relationship God, we have “pull" with him. It is an unfathomable mystery, but we have a working relationship with God, wherein he uses our prayers to implement his sovereign designs.
The consistent teaching on prayer in the Gospels is to encourage persistence. In the parable of the friend at midnight (Luke 11:5-8) a just-awakened friend gets up from the bed to help his neighbour, “Not because he is his friend but because of his impudence.” We see persistence rewarded in people who cry out to Jesus for help, though they are initially rebuffed. Blind Bartimeaus who won’t shut up even when the disciples try to stop him (Mark 10:46-52). The Canaanite woman in Matt 15:21 keeps crying out for Jesus to heal her daughter. Both Jesus and the disciples knock her back, yet she persists. Eventually Jesus is pleased with her persevering faith and grants her request.
Now there are some possible objections to this teaching on persist prayer. Doesn't this parable contradict Jesus' own instructions in Matt 6:7 about repeating empty words?:“Do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words.” Default answer, no. Empty repetition is not the same as persistent supplication. Empty repetition is worlds apart from faith-filled and thoughtful prayers. Empty repetition is like Buddhist windmills or Hindu chants. They lack heart and thought. Same thing could be said of a repetitive prayer over the same specific request. Also, is insistent prayer kind of like ordering God around? Is this type of prayer dishonouring to God? You err when you use God's promises to to tell God what he has to do for you. We never dictate to God, we ask of God. Even a fervent prayer is still a humble request of a sovereign king, who is free to answer as he pleases.
The Assurance of Answered Prayer, v. 7-8
“Will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night?” v.7
Having established the principle that persistent pleading is effective even with a bad judge, Jesus amplifies this truth as it applies to a good God. To pray effectively we need confidence that our prayers will be answered. Jesus seeks to encourage our hearts that there we will an assured answer. To bolster confidence, Jesus asks rhetorically, “Will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? I tell you, though he delay, he will give justice speedily" (v.7-8). When Jesus says, “I tell you” it is the same as “truly, truly.” How do you know that God will answer you? Well, Jesus just said that God would. Isn't that proof enough? What other guarantee do you need besides the sure word of Jesus?
Now if persistence works on a bad judge, how much more will it work with God who is actually good. Persistence has an inherent efficacy, but the superior character of God gives even greater assurance of an answer. Unlike the unjust judge, God loves justice, has compassion on people, and has a relationship with his elect ones. The famous “ask and it will be given; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened" (Luke 11:9) exhortation seeks to build confidence in answers to prayers. Jesus places the ultimate assurance of an answer in the God's good character. If a bad father gives good things when a child asks, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things when you ask (Luke 11:13).
I think the word “answer” may be the most precious word in the Bible. The psalmist cry out, “Answer me when I call, O God” (Ps 4:1), or encourage us, “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! (Ps 20:1). The most precious experience you can have in this life is an answer to your prayers. “I love the Lord, because he heard my voice and my pleas for mercy (Ps118:1). When Jesus was in the depths of Sheol he announced his resurrection with these words in Psalm 22:21, “You have answered me.”
The last two verses contain a perplexing paradox: God both delays long over them and answers speedily. How do these fit together? Is God slow or fast? Perhaps it is a differing perspective on time. A day for the Lord is like a thousand years for us, right? Or we just can't figure out his timing, like when the hobbit Frodo says to the wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, “You’re late, Gandalf.” Gandalf replies, “A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” God does work on his own time schedule.
The long delay refers to the duration when God's people are crying out for God to deliver them. Persistent prayer requires a delay, oh, but when he answers, watch out!When God does answer it can be so fast and effective. God has a rapid response, even if it was a long time coming. The Bible has numerous accounts of a long delay followed by speedy deliverance. Joseph spent a years in prison before his rapid rise to be prime minister of Egypt. The children of Israel were afflicted for 400 years in Egypt before they were speedily delivered in the exodus event. In the book of Judges, Israel is repeatedly afflicted for many years and then God raises up a judge who quickly defeats their enemies. In 2 Kings 6-7, the Syrians besiege Samaria so that there was great famine, but then Elisha prophecies that the next day there would be great abundance. The whole Syrian army fled leaving all their food. Lastly, Israel spent 70 years in Babylon until they are suddenly sent out by Cyrus back to the land.
The skeptic says, "Those are just Bible stories! What about in the real world?!" Think about post WWII Europe dominated by the Soviet Union. From 1945 onwards, persecuted Christians cried out to God day and night for justice from their Marxist atheistic oppressors. The Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand wrote the book Tortured for Christ chronicling this persecution. Then in 1989, after 44 years of praying, the kingdom quickly came. Starting in June 1989 every communist regime in Eastern Europe collapsed within three years. Like dominoes they fell, resulting in the break up of the Soviet Union on Christmas day 1991. Who could have imagined the timing, speed, and ease of the end? Richard Wurmbrand later wrote From Torture to Triumph, as he rejoiced over God’s speedy answer after 44 years of praying.
These things all happened in this age. But there is one pray request that Christians have been praying for 2000 years that has not yet been answered: "Come Lord Jesus! Come!" The ultimate vindication of the saints will come at the return of Christ. All things will be set right. In a blink of an eye, speedily, out of the heavens judgement and restoration will come and the adversary destroyed. "Nevertheless," Jesus wonders, "when the Son of Man returns will he find faith on earth?" (v.8) Will his church still be hoping and praying? Heed his words, therefore, and keep on praying.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
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