Luke 18:1-8 – And He [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
It always amuses me to see how humble God is. He doesn’t have any problem comparing Himself to a thief in the night, or in this case, an unjust judge. This judge has one problem—a widow who just won’t quit bugging him.
She hasn’t got any power. She hasn’t got any money. All she has is a pair of feet and a voice—which she uses, day after day, to confront the judge and say, “When are you going to get my case on the docket?” Because she knows that her case is just, if only the judge will hear it!
We are also people without power—or money, either. What we have are a pair of knees—well, some of us!—and a voice, just like the widow. And so we, too, can bug the relevant authority—in our case, that’s God. “Give us justice!” we cry to Him. “See the evil that is going on around me, and stop it!” This is what Jesus is recommending to us—that we keep bugging God, day in and day out. Because if even a wicked judge can be worn down by those tactics, how much more likely is the good and compassionate God to listen to us?
So here we have it—the incarnate Son of God recommending to us the best way of getting God to give us justice. Who should know His Father better? And so He tells us freely what to do—and that’s no surprise, because our one God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—wants us to ask for justice, commands us to pray for the people around us. As Christians, it is our job to see what’s wrong and pray about it.
When we do this, we are imitating Jesus Himself—for He saw our terrible state when we were still trapped by evil, spiritually dead—and He did something about it. He didn’t ignore us! He came to us to be our Savior. He lay down His life on the cross in order to save us—yes, and rose from the dead three days later. This is how He intervened for us when we were in trouble. And now He intervenes for other people in trouble through us, through our prayers.
WE PRAY: Dear Father, You see the state of my country and my world. Have mercy on us, and put an end to the evils and injustices You know better than I do. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions
- What specific injustice is weighing heavy on your heart right now?
- Take a moment to pray about it.
- Is there anything you could do to start making things better, with God’s help?
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