Verse: Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Devotion
At first glance this passage seems to be about prayer, similarly to a parable that we looked at pretty recently. But the more I look at it, the more it seems to me to be about God’s character. About how he loves justice. And hears his people.

I like to hold on to the first part. The “pray, and don’t give up” part. It’s encouraging. We want to know that we are heard, and that we will be answered. Our God does hear us. And this parable explains that our persistence is important. That doesn’t mean that we will always get what we want if we ask often enough. It means that God will give us justice. We won’t always get it in the time frame that we want. We won’t always have the same ideas as God about what justice is. So, yes, we are to be persistent and cry out to him, but I feel that this parable tells us more. It tells us that God cares deeply about justice. And he wants us to ask for it.

I think it’s important that the main character here is a widow. Widows were not a privileged group. On the contrary, they were vulnerable, and poor. But God sees the least powerful individuals, and cares that they are not taken advantage of. He cares about your situation, and mine. It matters to him if we are treated fairly, and if we treat others fairly. Especially those in a position of little or no power. And if we are called to be Christlike, which we are, we are to use any power or influence that we have to seek justice for those without.

Prayer
Jesus, we need you and we want to be like you. We want to see your justice done in this world. Would you help us to be your instruments to see it done.

Author: Emily Costa