The Last Word
“And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?” Luke 18:7
To emphasize the necessity of never giving up in praying for one’s needs, concerns, and seemingly impossible situations, Jesus told a parable to His disciples. The story goes like this: there was a judge in a city who had no fear of God nor cared about those who trusted him to be fair and equitable in his judgments. Perhaps he was a narcissist, you know, the person who thinks the world revolves around him or her. Unfortunately, there are way too many folks who fit that description. I have run across a few of them in my lifetime. Most of us ordinary folks, that is, those of us who realize that we are not the only people on the planet, would rather avoid the narcissist than hear how wonderful he or she is compared to all the rest of us. Actually, though, I think that narcissism stems from insecurity.
Continuing with the story, there was a widow who lived in the jurisdiction of that judge, and she had been treated unfairly by another person. We don’t know what happened. She could have been scammed. Older folks are particularly vulnerable to scam artists. I have been scammed by people knocking on my door with some of the saddest stories. How could this many things happen to one person? It has been said that if a scam artist tells you not just one, but numerous problems, for instance, “my car broke down, my child is sick, my husband lost his job, I need money for cab fare to get to a job interview, and so on, and then they go to someone else and tell a completely different story, you are fairly certain they are not telling the truth. I have given money to them in the past to get rid of them, but I have learned their tricks. I have also been warned by email when they are in the neighborhood. Law enforcement officers say that they can do nothing about them unless you feel threatened. At least this widow had somewhere to go to voice her complaint.
After presenting her case to the judge for him to do something about her situation, he refused. But she was relentless. We are not told how many times she came to him, but I can just hear him say as he rolled his eyes, “Oh no, not her again.” Finally, after numerous appearances by the woman before the judge, he decided that in order to get rid of her, he would grant her request. He realized that she was not giving up. He could have held out and refused her case, but he knew that she would be back, and he would become weary of dealing with her.
Jesus’ point to the story is that if this unjust, ungodly, and worldly-minded judge would avenge this widow of her adversary, would not the righteous Judge of all the earth avenge His people who come to Him in prayer constantly and consistently with their needs and worries? To be in constant communication with the Lord is to show our dependence upon Him. He will avenge His people, not because they weary Him with their prayers, but because He loves His people and delights in their prayers. That widow did not have an advocate to appear before the judge to represent her case, but we have a Mediator who not only will represent us before the Father, but before HIS Father. We know that all prayers are not answered speedily, at least not as quickly as we would like, but they are all answered on God’s timetable. I think that there are some things that we ask God for that He knows we are not ready to receive.
Jesus sums up this parable by asking if He will be able to find faith on the earth when He returns. Why would He ask this? Could it be that He was indicating that many folks get tired of waiting on the Lord? How many folks will Jesus find who prayed consistently, depended on the Lord for every need, and did not give up? I think the way that Jesus asked this question indicated that true believers, those who endure (Matthew 24:13) persecution and suffering, will be few and far between. The way the world is going now, I think it is apparent that the more time that passes until Jesus returns, the further away from God that the majority of the world will turn. Even so, the unbelief and sin of those who reject Christ and the gospel will not negate God’s promises to all those who have trusted in Him. God will have the last word.