“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Jesus is the person speaking the words above. He says of a time before His return to earth when people of faith persisting in prayer will be a rare thing. His words are taken from the parable of the persistent widow, found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 18. The widow sought justice from an unjust judge and prevailed by not giving up. Jesus used the story to say that if an unfair judge gives in to a persistent widow, how much more will the Holy God, who watches over the affairs of men, grant the prayers of people who pray through their difficulties.
My opinion is that we are living in such a time now, although how close to the coming of Christ, I couldn’t say. Many have made such claims in the past and been proven wrong, to their embarrassment. However, there are some signs of the times that are apparent to any wise seeker of truth. The question is raised; "Will the Son of Man find faith on the earth?" We are living in a day when faith in Christ is under attack. Bible-believing Christians in our Western culture are accused of being "politically incorrect." Spirituality in our western worldview does not fit unless it is seen in an abstract way or as a way of "self-enlightenment or self-improvement."
We are so consumed with our jobs and making a living that we have so little time for the things of our souls, and maybe that's a strategy of the evil one. At one time, a family could earn enough for a comfortable life on one wage packet, but nowadays, it seems like mom and dad both have to do two jobs and get the dog to work too! We find little time to pray persistently as the widow did. The vast majority of the Church becomes weary and gives up praying before God can reward faith and prayer with the answer.
When Edmund Gravely died at the controls of his small plane while on the way to Statesboro, Georgia, from the Rocky Mount-Wilson Airport in North Carolina, his wife, Janice, kept the plane aloft for two hours. As the aircraft crossed the South Carolina/North Carolina border, she radioed for help: "Help, help, won't someone help me? My pilot is unconscious." Authorities who picked up her distress signal could not reach her by radio during the flight because she kept changing channels. Eventually, Mrs. Gravely made a rough landing and had to crawl for forty-five minutes to a farmhouse for help. How often God's people cry out to him for help but switch channels before His message comes through! They turn to other sources for help, looking for human guidance. When you cry out to God for His intervention, don't switch channels! [1] Await His answer and keep looking to Him. Keith Thomas
[1] 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, Page 279, Edited by Michael Green, Baker Book House.