Luke 18:1-8 Justice Through Persistence
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: October 18, 2018 Luke 18:1-8
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) The key theme here is not persistence, but faith. We ought to always pray and not lose heart. It is losing heart that Jesus is focusing on. He says that we should trust God to hear our prayers. Even in this world, we know that we can get someone reluctant to hear us if we keep trying, so why do we expect less from God. We should expect more from God. We should know that God is listening with love and sympathy and the desire to give us the best life possible. We should believe that God’s promises are true and that He is more than ready to redeem us from our lives of sin and worry on this earth. Jesus asks if we will keep faith with Him. He promises that He will keep faith with us. Guzik’s commentary says “And not lose heart: Often we stop praying because we lose heart. We become discouraged and then slack off in prayer. i. It is easy to lose heart in prayer because prayer is hard work that we too often approach lightly. In Col_4:12, Paul praises a man named Epaphras because he was always laboring fervently . . . in prayers. Paul knew that prayer was hard work that required fervent labor. ii. It is easy to lose heart in prayer because the Devil hates prayer. If prayer were powerless, it would be easy! iii. It is easy to lose heart in prayer because we are not always convinced of the reality of the power of prayer. Too often, prayer becomes a last resort instead of a first resource.”
(Understanding the Text) Edersheim says “The most common and specious, but also the most serious mistake in reference to the Parable of ‘the Unjust Judge,’ is to regard it as implying that, just as the poor widow insisted in her petition and was righted because of her insistence, so the disciples should persist in prayer and would be heard because of their insistence. But this is an entirely false interpretation.” He says the lesson is “it is not, that insistence in prayer is the cause of its answer, but that the certainty of that which is asked for should lead to continuance in prayer, even when all around seems to forbid the hope of answer.”
Guzik’s commentary says “ii. Then why does it seem that we must overcome reluctance in God? The delays in prayer are not needed to change God, but to change us. Persistence in prayer brings a transforming element into our lives, building into us the character of God Himself. It is a way that God builds into us a heart that cares about things the same way He does.
Edersheim points out that the comparison between an unjust judge and our righteous God was typical of the rabbinical thinking of the Jews. Jesus was using a form of logic that His listeners would readily understand. “this mode of argument is perhaps the most common in Jewish Parables, and occurs on almost every page of ancient Rabbinic commentaries. It is called the qal vaḥomer, ‘light and heavy,’ and answers to our reasoning a fortiori or de minore ad majus (from the less to the greater).”
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is to trust God to handle the cares of this world and stop stressing out about everything. I should go to God again and again for refreshment. He will not get tired of me coming to Him for healing. In fact, He wants me to be persistent in returning to Him to be healed from the stresses and wounds inflicted by this world of sin. I must daily give myself over to trusting Him and give my cares to Him even more often. Teach me how to receive refreshment in prayer. I am easily discouraged. I need the persistence and faith that You taught about in this parable.