In Luke chapter eighteen, Jesus taught the Parable of the Persistent Widow focusing on the need to always pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1). He used the parable to speak of a time before His return to earth when it would be rare for people of faith to persist in prayer.
“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
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?
I believe that we are living in such a time now, although I couldn't say how close we are to the coming of Christ. To their embarrassment, many have claimed to know the time and have been proven wrong. However, some signs of the times are apparent to any wise seeker of truth. The Scripture above says, "Will the Son of Man find faith on the earth?" We live at a time when faith in Christ is under attack. In our Western culture, Bible-believing Christians are often accused of being "politically incorrect." Spirituality in our Western worldview does not fit unless seen abstractly 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, we 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. To persist in prayer is so needed for our day:
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. When 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 do God's people cry to him for help but switch channels before His message comes through? They turn to other sources for help, looking for human guidance. Don't switch channels when you cry to God for His intervention! [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.
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