From the archives of Oral Roberts
Suppose you were to pray to God and receive no response from Him whatsoever. Would you think that your prayers had not been heard? One day Jesus told His disciples a story to illustrate their need for persistent prayer and to show them that they must never give up when it appeared that God had not heard their petitions. It’s found in Luke 18:1˗8.
Jesus told about a widow who took her story of being unjustly treated by an enemy to an ungodly judge. The judge listened impatiently to the widow’s plea for justice and told her to come back later. On her next visit, he was even less courteous and once again brushed her off. When the widow thought it over, she decided that her chances for receiving justice were pretty slim unless she was determined. Planning her course of action, she went to see the judge again and insisted that he take immediate action.
By now the widow was getting on the judge’s nerves. Seeing that he could not put her off any longer, he said to himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me (vv. 4˗5).
The ungodly judge avenged the widow of her adversaries, not because he was in sympathy with her cause, but because of her unrelenting demands. Jesus said, “Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him” (v.7)? Then He added, “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily” (v. 8).
Jesus was telling us that if this unsympathetic judge helped the widow simply because of her insistence, how much more will God, who is in sympathy with our cause help us when we take our requests to Him with consistent faith and determination.