Never give up (The persistent widow Luke 18:1-8)

Never give up (The persistent widow Luke 18:1-8)

When I was young, I remember a motivational poster that used to hang in some classrooms at school. It was a kitten holding on to a rope with the words “Hang in there” written on it. It was a simple reminder that we needed to keep pressing on and never give up because you only fail when you fail to keep trying. As we begin to study the parable of the persistent widow from Luke 18:1-8 we see that Jesus is trying to get His point across to a crowd about being persistent in prayer and not give up on your prayers. He tells them the story of a widow who repeatedly appeared before an unrighteous judge the judge to rule in her favor against an adversary. The judge was not willing to rule in her favor because the law was on her side but instead decided to rule in her favor because he came to the realization that this widow was not going to leave him alone until she got what she wanted. Jesus tells the crowd that if an unjust judge would do this for someone just to get rid of them, should they not expect a righteous and loving God to answer the prayers of those who cry out before Him day and night.

Sometimes in life we fell like the easy thing to do is to just let go and give up, it is easier to let go then to keep fighting. We are tired, we are weak, and we feel like our efforts is getting us nowhere, but God says that we should never give up on what we are seeking answer from God for. 1 John 5:14-15 says that we can have confidence in approaching God know that He hears our prayers and that if He hears us, He will answer us. As followers of Christ, we should never feel as if our prayers are falling on deaf ears, but we also must be willing to receive the answer that God provides us. Sometimes we must accept a no from God, sometimes we must wait for God’s timing before we get our yes, and sometimes we are just told not now. When we do not get an immediate yes from God we cannot not be discouraged or dismayed we just need to hunker down and continue praying with the understanding that God knows what is best in every circumstance. We also must realize that some situations and obstacles are only overcome through much prayer and fasting as Jesus revealed in Matthew 17:21. So if you are thinking of giving up on an unanswered prayer let us encourage you to “hang in there”, God hears your cries, and He will answer the prayers of His children.