Scripture:
Luke 18:1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
Observation:
Before the parable of the persistent widow is shared in the gospel of Luke, he explains why Jesus told it in the first place. As believers we ought to pray always and not lose heart.
Application:
Within each of us there is a scale. The scale weighs the seriousness of our needs, the likelihood of us taking care of it ourselves, the pressure of the problem and urgency of the need to be addressed by God. We might not realize it but each of our prayers are weighed in our own lives on this invisible scale. The problem is God didn’t create the scale. We did. It’s measurements are based on our short-sighted, finite, and five-sense driven reality. We lose heart when we have weighed our need, the urgency is evident, yet when we pray God doesn’t respond with the same urgency or treat it with the same weight. This parable is told to remind believers that we should always pray and not grow discouraged if it isn’t answered in our timetable or in the way we thought it should/would be.
A few things:
-God wants us to pray. He wants us to come to Him. He is a loving Father. He isn’t like the judge. He cares about us and sees our needs for what they really are.
-God’s perspective is different. What I see as urgent and overwhelming doesn’t look that way to God. I must realize that when I pray I am talking to the creator and sustainer of the universe. Every issue, problem and need is within his jurisdiction. However, He sees my need from a perfect and eternal lens. Maybe the thing I am praying away is actually for my good. Maybe the thing I want so much would actually be my demise. His view is better.
-Don’t lose heart. It is so easy to assume that when the scales are different, that God simply doesn’t care. That I am all alone or that I have to bear the pressure or problem or need alone. Not so. Don’t lose heart. Keep praying. Even if my prayer isn’t answered the way I expected the constant fellowship with the Father is more than enough to help me see the situation correctly. The time with Him might change my view of the need. It might change the way I pray. The goal of my life is to know Christ. Praying for stuff that doesn’t pan out the way I wanted it to originally, still gets me to the goal. To know Him fully, even as I am fully known.
Prayer:
Father thank you for always being ready to listen, even when my prayers are short-sighted, misguided or wrong. Thank you for leading me and guiding me to understand my needs from your perspective. Thank you for loving me enough to meet my greatest need, even when it wasn’t on my prayer list. If you know how to meet my greatest need, I can trust you with all the rest.