Don't Stop Asking

 

Lk 18:1-8

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 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? 8 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?”

Our tendency is to ask once, or at most a few times more, and if we don't receive an answer, to give up and stop asking.  But this is not what Jesus recommends.  He wants us to grow in faith even in the asking.  Like the widow, we don't give up. It's a test of faith and endurance as well as of trust that in God's good time, he will grant our request. It's a hard lesson, but an essential one.  Let us renew our faith and begin again to ask for the things we think have been refused or ignored. God will eventually come through for us in ways better than we anticipated.

Bro. Rene

Dear God, please grant me the grace to persist in prayer, even when it seems to us you are ignoring our requests.