Kingdom Justice Released Through Night & Day Prayer
Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
~ Luke 18:1-8
Here, we find a powerful passage on prayer that can be a little confusing if one doesn’t understand the linguistic strategy Jesus is using. But if we comprehend Christ’s approach in this glorious teaching on answered prayer, we will indeed be strengthened and encouraged to “draw near with confidence to the [God’s] throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
To best understand the meaning of this parable, it is crucial first to determine to whom Jesus was addressing it. It appears this parable was likely spoken to Christ’s disciples (not necessarily just the twelve) as the last mention we hear of Christ’s audience from Luke 17:22, “And He said to His disciples …” Also note that this parable was preceded in Lukes’s account by Jesus discussing His second coming. Thus, this parable occurs in the context of eschatological revelation. Both facts are a helpful foundation to keep in mind as we explore this passage.
Concentrated & Abiding Prayer
The purpose of this parable cannot be questioned! Jesus shares this parable intending to show the disciples “that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart.”
At first glance, this verse, along with God’s command in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray without ceasing,” seems impossible. How exactly do we keep on with constant, uninterrupted prayer while also engaging in the basic daily tasks of life? It is evident here that Jesus is not only emphasizing “concentrated prayer” but also “abiding prayer.”
Concentrated prayer happens when we intentionally focus and give ourselves to direct and active communication with God. It often involves talking with the Lord and listening to His guidance, whether verbally or in our mind.
On the other hand, abiding prayer is more of a posture we carry throughout the day. Abiding prayer involves a deliberate, although often hidden, positioning of our hearts to remain connected with God. This form of prayer is actually a state of being rather than an activity.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ~ John 15:4-5
We should be careful not to drive a wedge too far between abiding prayer and concentrated prayer, for they are dynamically connected. The fruit produced through concentrated prayer is often an overflow of our abiding in God, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (John 15:6). Likewise, our ability to continue to abide in God’s presence is increased as we spend more time in concentrated conversation with Him.
In reference to this verse, one may be tempted to think that Jesus is mostly speaking about abiding prayer in His command to “pray always.” The abiding type of prayer is definitely in play, but because the rest of the parable focuses on verbal conversations (verses 2-5) and literal crying out to God (verse 7), we also need to place a high value on Christ’s call for us to engage in regular, habitual, and persistent concentrated prayer. Christ’s focus is not merely a state of being (abiding prayer) but also a state of doing (concentrated prayer).
Prayer Affects Our Emotions
Before moving on from verse 1, we must examine Christ’s staggering statement about the relationship between our prayers and our emotions. Contrary to popular opinion, God is not afraid of our feelings. In fact, God Himself is an emotional being. Since we have been made in His image (Genesis 1:26), we too have been hardwired as emotional creatures. God uses both our positive and negative emotions to connect with us and display His sufficiency to meet us in our pain and brokenness.
In this passage, Jesus specifically targets our propensity towards hopelessness or “losing heart.” He understands the struggles of life and knows all too well the temptation to give up (Matthew 26:37-39). But He also has a solution for our hopelessness: prayer.[i] Christ implicitly links together our persistence in prayer and our experience of hope. As such, one of the great weapons against feelings of despair is to remain always in prayer!
A Contrasting Parable
Proceeding now from verse 1, the parable opens with Jesus sharing a story about a vulnerable widow and an unrighteous judge. The widow pleads with the judge to give her legal protection from her opponent. The judge does nothing for a while, but the widow persists in her pursuit of justice by continually returning to him. Eventually, the judge gives in to her request, not because it is the right thing to do but because he is concerned that the widow would wear him out by continually coming to him.
This is where many people become confused regarding the nature of this parable. In most of Christ’s parables, He draws a positive comparison between what happens in the story and the nature of people, God, and His kingdom (ex. The Prodigal Son in Luke 15). But in this story, Jesus uses the art of contrasting to teach us about God who loves to answer prayer. He is not comparing God in a positive sense as being like the unrighteous judge. Instead, He shares this parable to show how much God is nothing like the judge described in this account.
First, the judge is described as someone who does not fear God or respect man. Later in verse 6, this judge is summarized as being altogether unrighteous. Does this sound like the God we serve? In Psalm 145:17, the psalmist describes God as being “righteous in all His ways, and kind in all His deeds.”
Second, the unrighteous judge is obviously not concerned about providing justice to protect the vulnerable widow. He only gives into her request for his own selfish motives of no longer wanting to be bothered. But in Psalm 68:5, King David describes God as “a father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows.” God so cares about the widow, the orphan, and all the vulnerable members of society that He inspires James to write that “pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
Lastly, we notice how the unrighteous judge is wearied and bothered by the widow’s ongoing plea for protection. He sees her as a nuisance and wants to be done with her. But is that how God views the persistent prayers of His people? Proverbs 15:8 declares how “the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.” Because of Christ’s finished work on the cross we are told to “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16).
After this brief review, it is simple to see how much the God we serve is unlike the judge described in this parable.
Our Vulnerable & Powerful Experience
After examining the vast difference between God and the unrighteous judge, we would do well to look at how we relate to the widow described in Christ’s parable. There are some similarities between the persistent widow and us as members of the body of Christ. In many ways, we remain vulnerable as aliens in a foreign land (1 Peter 2:11). Satan remains the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), and much of the world is under His influence. As believers, it may feel like we are often living in the enemy’s camp. In our own strength, we are weak and must remain perpetually dependent on One greater than ourselves.
But in many ways, we can also be contrasted to the state of the widow. Yes, we are vulnerable, but we are also powerful! We have the Spirit of God living in us, and we know that “whatever is born of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4). Jesus proclaimed over the church that “in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17, 18). We must learn to live in this tension of vulnerability and authority to truly follow our Master.
Another contrasting point can be found in our relationship with God and the widow’s relationship with the unrighteous judge. There appears to be little to no connection between the widow and the judge in this parable. The judge had no fond affection for the widow but considered her an annoying pest. Oh, how different is our relationship to the Father!
There are far too many scriptures to list here describing God’s love and affection for His people. We are not distant strangers begging God to help us; we are beloved children coming to our perfect Father (1 John 3:1, John 1:12, 2 Corinthians 6:18). See how Christ describes our relationship with the Father, especially regarding His generosity towards his praying people,
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! ~ Matthew 7:7-11
Unceasing Prayer for Kingdom Justice
We now arrive at the main point of the entire parable. Though the unrighteous judge delayed and hesitated before finally giving in to the widow’s request, we have a righteous God who quickly brings justice for His people when they cry out to Him day and night. The truth Jesus wants His hearers to understand is that our situation is nearly the opposite of what is presented in this parable.
God is perfectly holy — not unrighteous.
We are beloved children of God — not distant strangers.
God loves sincere prayer — He is not bothered or worn out by our requests.
God brings about justice quickly — He does not delay unnecessarily.
But what does it mean that God brings about justice? In this parable, justice looked like the widow being granted protection from her opponent. We don’t know any details surrounding why she needed protection, but it is evident that the unrighteous judge was withholding justice by not granting her request. How do we apply this parable about a widow and a judge to the broader topic of justice in our lives?
The Greek word translated as justice in this verse is ekdíkēsis. In the original language, this word refers to a form of justice that completely executes the core value of the distinct judge who is ruling in the matter. This is not some superficial justice, but rather, the verdict is birthed out of the inner person of the judge.[ii] This is deeply personal! The justice God wants to release over His children is not merely Him executing the letter of the law; it is Him passionately bringing about the values of His kingdom into our circumstances.
In the broadest sense, I consider justice to be served whenever something wrong has been made right. We can be confident that God wants to execute justice on our behalf whenever something does not align with the values of His kingdom. This is why Jesus tells us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). He is passionate about seeing the pure justice of His kingdom released throughout the earth.
But note that the release of God’s justice does not happen in a vacuum. God releases His justice in response to the elect crying out to Him day and night. We should not take the phrase day and night to necessarily mean a specific time throughout the day and night. Instead, this refers to a daily, consistent, and ongoing crying out to God that takes on elements of the abiding and concentrated forms of prayer described earlier.
The exciting truth is that we get to participate in God’s great purpose of executing kingdom justice on the earth! But notice the focus of this passage highlights our pursuit of justice through prayer. God’s command to engage in acts of justice (Micah 6:8) is most often elevated in the body of Christ. Pursuing acts of justice is fantastic, but our efforts towards acts of justice cannot replace the kingdom principle of night and day prayer for justice to be released! God’s power released in prayer outdoes any amount of effort given by men in their strength.
Our part in this “equation” is crying out to God day and night. His part is executing justice quickly. The phrase translated as “crying out” is the Greek word boáō. The definition of this word is to “exclaim (‘cry out’), making an urgent distress-call; to summon intensely, sorely needing a response (assistance). As you can see, this is not some lighthearted type of prayer. This profoundly passionate form of intercession rejects any elements of self-sufficiency in bringing about an answer. This is coming to God with an understanding that there is no plan B. Our only hope for justice is if He brings it to pass!
God’s Expedient Response
Now we come to one of the more controversial statements made by Jesus in this parable. Not only did Jesus promise that God would bring about justice for His chosen people, He also adds that He would do it quickly! With such great injustice still present worldwide, what are we to do with this statement?
First, we must acknowledge our prayerlessness as one of the primary reasons injustice continues to thrive throughout the globe. Please avoid the temptation to try and explain away the evident truth revealed by Jesus that God delivers speedy justice to those that cry out to Him day and night. Period!
Knowing that God is faithful always to fulfill His word, we must look to ourselves as at least part of the reason why so much evil remains. Indeed there are many explanations outside of the church’s prayerlessness for why injustice continues to thrive, but oh how I wonder how much pain, suffering, and evil could be extinguished from this world if we as the body of Christ set ourselves about the business of prayer. If this feels judgmental, please know that I myself feel the deep sting of conviction as I face my prayerlessness. What could be different in my life and those close to me if I genuinely fulfilled my assignment as a watchman in God’s house of prayer?
I have no intention of shaming you, or myself for that matter when it comes to the habit of prayer. I have found that shame is an ineffective force in producing lasting change. I’m also not suggesting that the answer is to grit your teeth and try harder. This tactic of summing up a greater amount of willpower rarely works. My suggestion as a first step in the matter of our prayerlessness would be to repent and ask Jesus to produce the desire in us to pray! Many of us may need to pray for God to give us the longing even to have a greater yearning to pray! Our only hope of becoming a praying people is to surrender ourselves fully to the Lord and for Him to have His way in us.
As for the matter of God’s expediency in executing justice, I think we need to consider two points.
First, God experiences time quite differently than we do (actually, He exists outside of time). 1 Peter 3:8 reminds us “that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” We cannot assume that our understanding of quickness is equivalent to the Lord’s. This statement is more valid now than ever because we live in a society obsessed with instant gratification for our every desire.
Still, we can be sure that if we do our part to intercede from a pure heart, He will bring about justice in the quickest time-table suitable for His purpose. The word translated quickly is the Greek word táxos, which means “done as quickly (speedily) as appropriate to the particular situation.” Any perceived delay on His part is really no delay at all but is a necessary component of working everything out for our good (Romans 8:28).
The second point is to hold in tension this understanding of God’s timing while also recognizing that He is not trying to trick us when using the word “quickly.” In some respects, we need to remove the mental gymnastics we do as we study the Bible and instead simply take God at His word. Could it really be that quickly means quickly, even as we humans understand it? I think in many instances the answer is a resounding yes!
A Final Question
The passage now culminates with a final word from Jesus regarding faith. Jesus ties in the eschatological focus brought in Luke 17 with a final question of whether or not he would find faith when He returned to the earth. So much could be said about this question and its multifaceted meaning. But in order to point you in the direction of one of its primary meanings, I share with you now an excerpt from a sermon given by John Piper on January 9, 1983, titled Always Pray and Do Not Lose Heart,
When Jesus asks at the end of verse 8, “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” he means, “Will the Son of man find that his disciples have kept praying, or have lost heart and given up?” So the implication seems to be: prayer and faith stand and fall together. If we lose heart and drift away from prayer, then the Son of man will not find faith in us when he comes. Faith is the furnace of our lives. Its fuel is the grace of God. And the divinely appointed shovel for feeding the burner is prayer. If you lose heart and lay down the shovel, the fire will go out, you will grow cold and hard, and when the lightning flashes from sky to sky and the Son of man appears in glory, he will spew you out of his mouth (Revelation 3:16). Two will be sleeping in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And the test will not be whether you once walked an aisle, or prayed a prayer, or made a vow, or were baptized. The test will be whether you continued in prayer and did not lose heart. God’s elect will most surely be saved; and, as verse 7 says, the sign of the elect is that they cry to God day and night. Those who endure to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13).
[i] It is probably too simplistic to say that prayer is the only solution God provides for our feelings of hopelessness, but in context to the verse at hand, prayer is certainly exulted as a means of breaking the power of hopelessness.
[ii] HELPS Word-studies taken from The Discovery Bible, available at discoverybible.com, copyright © 2017, HELPS Ministries Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
