Luke 18. Prayer of the widow and the replies of the Unjust Judge

 Luke 18  Prayer and the Widow/Unjust Judge

"God can pick sense out of a confused prayer.

Richard Sibbes"

"The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer fetched the angel.

Thomas Watson"

"Attending church in Kentucky, we watched an especially verbal and boisterous child being hurried out, slung under his irate father's arm. No one in the congregation so much as raised an eyebrow -- until the child captured everyone's attention by crying out in a charming Southern accent, "Ya'll pray for me now!" 

Jean McMahon (Dyer, Ind.) in Reader's Digest, April 1980.

----1.  See the context, the ch. before.  Jesus talks about His Coming Again in Glory to judge the world.  In the days of Noah, so it shall be when He comes again.

So He picks up on this and tells the story of the unjust Judge.

2.  We should never give up on prayer---have we given up on our prayers that seem unanswered?  That is the theme of this parable.  " We ought always to pray , and not lose heart......" Luke 18:1

Even Jesus is saying that the unjust judge will eventually hear the request....But God is not unjust!

God shall hear and have long patience lit. greek here again.vs  18:7 ....( 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance".is the same word as here...too Long patience as well & also in I Corinthians 13 talking about love....Love is long patience.................)

Who do we need to have long patience for?

3.  Jesus summarizes at the end by saying God will bring justice ( KJV- avenge them speedily) to His children.  

If we have been wronged or hurt, we certainly expect justice.  But we may not see it from the courts, the country or our friends.  But we see here that God will bring justice.  That is all that matters!

So if your prayers are confused as Richard Sibbes said in my intro...God will pick sense out of a confused prayer.  

What are we praying for?  Most Churches say they are praying for numbers, but I wonder if that is the best prayer we can make?  Shouldn't we put other things at the front of our prayers?  

----What would that good list look like?

Mostly it should start with our own sins, and then go out from there.  Pray for the culture that is Biblically illiterate basically.  Pray for there to be a revival of understanding that God is in charge, and that He is the Only Master we should bow down to.  Yes, even pray for a weak government that it may stop being weak and ineffective.

Pray for healing in our families that we would be more like the Prodigal Son's father , forgiving and embracing his son that was lost. We are too much like the Elder son who felt cheated while he did all the work.  He was not rejoicing when the younger son came home.

What is on our lists for this now less than 40 days to Easter .  What cross is ours?  Do we take it or resent it?  Are we like the suffering Saviour ?

"We have all had times when our faith has staggered, and we have found no answer to our heart’s question: ‘Why tarry the wheels of His chariot?’ Many of us have felt what Mary and Martha felt when ‘Jesus abode still two days in the place where He was’ after He had received their message, in which they had been so sure of His coming at once when He heard that ‘he whom Thou lovest is sick,’ that they did not ask Him to come. The delays of God’s help are a constant feature in His providence, and, as Jesus says here, they are but too likely to take the life out of faith."  Alexander MacClaren

Mostly we should not give up on prayer for others and ourselves that we would see change and devotion in this holy time leading to the Cross.