Question: What does the parable of the persistent widow and crooked judge reveal? Is God so hard hearted Judge that we need to bother him to answer us? Can you share your thoughts regarding this in details (Luke 18:2-8).
Answer: Greetings to you in Jesus awesome and precious name!
The Parables of Jesus are earthly stories told by him to reveal heavenly realities and truth. Our natural minds cannot fathom the indescribable greatness of heaven, so to make things simple and easy for us to grasp it, Jesus uses this type of teaching model which remains one of the most effective way to make humans understand. To the simple minded without salvation, they hear the stories and return without much benefit. But to those who are spiritually minded, who are saved, they not just hear stories, but within the story, the truth and realities of heaven gets revealed by Jesus to make these get edified and grow and be used for the Glory of God. True disciples of Jesus never fail to understand heaven, because, knowing Jesus is the reality of heaven from whom the Presence of God can be experienced more and more in our day to day lives even as we live on earth.
Let us now delve in to the deeper heavenly truth of the Parable:
"1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” 6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”" (Luke 18:1-8).
Jesus is the one and only heavenly teacher in this world, who teaches about heaven because no one has come from heaven except Him, and no one has ascended back to heaven except Jesus (John 3:13). Even when Jesus lived on earth, he was in heaven because in actuality heaven was in his heart, from where he was in constant communion with his Heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit of God (John 11:41-42; 4:34; 5:17, 19-20, 37; Luke 5:16; Matt 14:23).
In the first line of the Parable itself we see the bottom-line of the whole story being revealed by the Jesus, "men always ought to pray and not lose heart". The main thing about prayer is, we as humans when we pray we do not physically see God and therefore have no knowledge whether God hears or not. But right from the Scripture we see, that we need to have faith in God and his word to pray and believe that He hears us (Mark 11:24; Jam 1:5-6, 7-8; Jam 5:16, 17-18). It is the fact, that we believe God to be what He is which He has revealed about Himself in His word to be, and believingly seek Him diligently until He rewards us what he has told and promised to us, needs a lot of patience to actually receive it in His time (Heb 11:6; 10:36). If we lose heart, we will cast away our confidence in God, so easily giving up on God and His promises to lose the reward that could have been ours if only we could have patiently held on to our belief which gives confidence to us to walk forward in more faith, hope and love (Heb 11:35-36; 1 Cor 13:13).
The will of God is to walk in the confidence of God's promise in the dark until the light of the reward of God dawns on us (Heb 10:38). If we stop praying, we will definitely very soon lose heart and thus lose our faith which gives confidence to pursue God and has a great reward at the end. Our prayer is like a Can of water we supply to a seed within the ground which is faith, when it sprouts out, it is little but we still regularly water it, but then it grows and becomes a great tree of shade for many soon one day if we do not lose heart. We are so joyful about its growth that we with joy begin to pour water regularly, after a little while it starts to abundantly bear fruit. That is what faith is, and the water of prayer we pour out to the actual seed and plant of faith makes us reap the spiritual fruit of eternal reward, and along with it temporal rewards too come as a bonus to us (Mark 10:29-30)! Hallelujah!
As The Evil Nature Of Self Is So Natural To Human To Act, So Is The Nature Of God To Bring Justice And Do Good To Us Who Believe His Word
"There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’"
A vile human judge living in a certain city did not fear God nor regard fellow man, he was being portrayed by Jesus to bring out a beautiful truth about God's nature to answer our prayers. As this story reveals the worst of the evil nature of self which is so natural to human to act, Jesus shows that this judge even though a good man in the sight of man, the basic nature within him does not naturally "hate evil; hate pride and arrogance, or hate evil behavior and avoid perverse speech" (Prov 8:13) which shows that this judge had no fear of God.
Because he did not fear God, in his heart he had no regard or real love for fellow human beings (Matt 22:36-40; Rom 13:8-10; Gal 5:14; Jam 2:8). A judge is supposed to be a good man in order to judge fellow humans, but if that judge is not a man of excellence, then he is not fit to judge over fellow humans. But the very fact that the judge is so evil shows that even what man considers as the best man for the best job, remains as nothing but abomination and evil rags before this holy God who regards the humble but resists the proud in spirit (Jam 4:6; Luke 16:15). So holy is this God, that all of our good works fades as evil in the light of His sinless nature with which He works towards us (Isa 57:12; 64:6).
When a widow is brought in to the scene by Jesus, it reminds us of all the poor, dejected, helpless, hopeless and oppressed people of the society. In fact the word of God reveals that those who help the poor, widows and orphans to visit them in their trouble are those who are living a true religion for God to look and show favor to them (Jam 1:27).
God is so concerned about the plight of these poor and oppressed people, that He spoke through Solomon who was one of the wisest king to ever live, have worded strongly in his Proverbs saying, "Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed. The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty." (Proverbs 19:17; 22:9, 16).
In the above scenario, we come to understand that a helpless and oppressed widow is pitted against a judge who did not fear God nor regard man, is there a chance for the widow to get justice from her adversary? NO way, hardly we can expect justice to be served to the widow because she was oppressed by her adversary who was overpowering her because she was helpless, and she had over her a judge who was evil enough to never give the right judgment.
We know that our adversary the devil like a roaring lion is ready to devour us when we give opportunity through our sin nature to sin against God (1 Pet 5:8). We know only when our sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus, God's jurisdiction of His Kingdom comes over our life (Col 1:13). When we have believed Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we tend to experience within us a fight of faith (2 Tim 4:7), in this fight our evil nature of self and unbelief as a evil judge which is working within us is pitted against the new nature of God who is selflessness and has faith as a helpless widow in this parable. What are the odds against which we can get answers from God? In other words, with our old nature acting against God still in rebellion, as we are not able to fully resist our adversary now and then, how could God be able to answer us and bring justice for us against Satan when He is only pleased by faith, that He has declared clearly, that the righteous will live by faith alone and that if he draws back God has no pleasure in it (Heb 11:6; 10:35-36, 38)?
This Is Where Persistence and Perseverance Pays Off!
"4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”
Here the connotation is that the evil judge did not justly give justice for a while, just as expected because when two extremes try to meet only a very small fraction of percentage remains for it to actually meet. Yes we see that even though we are like a helpless widow coming to God to ask and get justice against the activities of our adversary Satan who constantly tries to steal, kill and destroy us and our family of faith (John 10:10), yet the new nature of faith rises up within us against the old nature of Satan who has kept us under his jurisdiction to be completely broken by persistence of going to God and praying to be a spiritual overcomer to inherit eternal life and the rewards of it here and now, along with the eternal glory that God has promised to give us all if we do not give up our confidence of faith until the end of our life (Rom 6:14). The key to victory over Satan and his demonic activities which acts through our old nature is to pray, pray and pray until we see to it that we get justice from God by his answers that bring us abundant life so that we can be able to live more abundantly in victory as an overcomer than ever before (1 Thess 5:16-17, 18).
We see that when we pray with persistence and perseverance, the old nature is constantly overpowered by the new nature of increasing power that comes through God's strength acting in us (Php 4:13; 2 Cor 12:9-10). Thus we begin to operate in the increasing power within in our new nature that might start to trouble and weary the old nature of self, sin and Satan. Though we cannot make the old nature change, yet because of the new nature's persistence and the resultant power of God, unbelief will give way to more faith, and more faith will cause unbelief to become powerless enough at a certain point where God himself will be pleased to answer us and give us whatever we have asked of Him and continue to ask Him in the name of Jesus for His Glory (John 14:12-14; 16:23-24). Faith will start to shine the very atmosphere of heaven within our heart to make us hear the very voice of God and act accordingly in our life, because of our persistence and perseverance in prayer to not to give up our confidence in God and His promises through Jesus Christ (2 Pet 1:16-17, 18-19, 20-21).
God Will Never Give Up On You Though You Might Feel Like God Doesn't Answer, All You Need To Do Is To Hold On To Your Faith To Practice It To Be A Overcomer
"6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"
By reminding what the unjust judge said, Jesus is reminding to us that true spiritual growth and living a God pleasing life is not a rocket science to learn intellectually or it is not a Greek and Latin to learn by hard work, but rather it is a simple practice of praying constantly to God day and night in spite of the sin nature that torments us through sin, to make us give up our faith is what makes it a fight of faith.
God wants to reward all His children like us who fight to retain our faith through practicing self-lessness which makes us take up our own cross daily and follow Jesus Christ's path in the will of God for our lives (Luke 9:23-26). In fact, God wants to answer all of our prayers, more than we ever want to pray for an answer from Him. God knows that the enemy of humans who is Satan is at work against the believers to destroy their faith in God. But then why God delays his answer to our needs? It is done to make us understand that He meet us not where we expect Him to, but where He really wants to, in order that His name alone might be glorified in our lives to bring eternal reward for us and our loved ones which is impossible except in His appointed time that pleases Him (John 11:4, 15; 9:1-4). God feeds on our faith and bears long with us through His mercies and grace (2 Pet 3:15), till His appointed time comes in which He will be pleased to do whatever we ask of Him (Luke 17:5-10).
As our world is moving towards a time of night, in it no child of God can be able to work for Him. We are at the verge of this time that Jesus spoke about prophetically two thousand years ago itself. When we cannot work for God, how could we be able to retain our faith to please Him? Yes, but the real work of God is to believe whom the Father sent (John 6:28-29).
So the bottom life is, in these dark times of the end which we have entered in to, are we ready to cry out day and night to God our Father in Heaven who has promised to avenge His own elect and bring justice to us from the enemy of our soul who is Satan and his evil minions? If we continue to swim against the tide of unbelief in faith by holding on to His ever-bright promises, we will forever be soon separated from the evil judge of our own conscience forever and also from the influence of Satan and his demonic tyrants, and receive justice done for us through resurrection from the dead, for which saints have waited in faith for nearly two thousand years by trusting His promises and dying in this world (Eph 1:13-14).
Make sure that your answer is 'Yes to Jesus Christ' in your prayer of persistence even though you might be like that helpless widow with your not so mature new nature of God which grows more and more as you say no to sin (Heb 12:1), world (1 John 2:15-17), flesh (1 Pet 2:11-12), and self (Luke 9:23). Satan works powerfully through your old nature of the unjust judge. For those who do not give up their confidence and faith in the promises of God, will become a overcomer to make sure for Jesus to find faith when He arrives for His saints for salvation apart from sin (Heb 9:28).
God can only be pleased not just through our prayer, but the prayer of faith without which we cannot expect an answer (Heb 11:6; Jam 1:6-8). Our very nature is sinful enough to make us doubtful about receiving anything or everything from God, so we are to pray to the Lord constantly and hear His word to build our faith, and once we stand on the higher ground of faith and pray, then every expected answer will automatically happen as God will be more and more pleased with our faith to move not only for us but also on our behalf for others for His Glory. So God is not hard hearted that we need to bother Him in order for us to receive anything from Him, rather we need faith in order for God who is willing to answer us always. God is always willing to answer us (Luke 5:12-13, 16). When our faith is up and active, God is ready to work for us as always (Matt 9:28-29). We can be truthful enough always to ask help from Jesus when we could not be able to believe, He will help us with our faith and will do miracles in our lives through His mercies (Mark 9:23-29). Even a mustard seed size of faith is able to move mountains of problems away from us, how much more when we grow in faith through prayer and fasting to learn to live in the supernatural realm of faith for the Glory of God (Matt 17:19-21).
All overcomers are rewarded not only now in this life (Mark 10:26-31), but mainly eternally for the Glory of God which will stay with them forever and ever (1 John 5:4-5; Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 22:12, 17, 20-21). Hallelujah!
May Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior find us with faith when he comes!
Have we learnt through this beautiful parable, "Humans should always ought [(i.e.) as a spiritual duty by disciplining ourselves we must learn] to pray and not lose heart"? (Luke 18:1). If our answer is yes, we have learnt the true meaning of this parable written to us who are the disciples of Jesus Christ! And soon we might begin to operate in the greater height of supernatural faith with God!
GLORY TO GOD!
Much Love and Blessings...
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