Luke 18:1-8 shows us a short parable Jesus shared about a widow “in a certain city” who went before a judge “who did not fear God nor regard man.” She asked the judge to do justice on her behalf before her adversary and he refused, but then after she kept coming back and bothering him with her plea, he said to himself, “Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” Then Jesus basically said, if this unjust judge will do justice to relieve himself of the bother, will not God who is just do justice and avenge His own people who cry out day and night to Him?
First, I consider—where else do we see His people crying out day and night to Him in the Bible and what can we learn from these examples? The first one I think of is Abel. In the beginning Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. When they brought sacrifices to offer to God, God had regard for Abel’s sacrifice but not for Cain’s. Cain grew jealous and murdered Abel in a field. When God confronted Cain about his brother’s whereabouts, Cain said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Then in Gen 4:10 God responded, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cried out to me from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.”
While God meted justice to Cain for the rest of his life, several millennia later Jesus pronounced woes upon the corrupt scribes and pharisees, saying in Matthew 23:32-35, “Fill up, then, the measure of your father’s guilt…that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” Over centuries and centuries Abel’s blood continues to cry out, indeed until Jesus returns at the end of time. And not just Abel and the prophets, but every martyr’s blood cries out.
Revelation 6:9-11 describes a scene in which the “souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held” cry out to God “with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’” They are literally crying out for justice before the very throne of God. Yet they must wait and for how long? Centuries. Verse 11 says, “Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was complete.” See—they must wait “a little while longer.” In God’s economy, a “little while” is not what we normally consider, not one lifetime or even many. For an eternal God and a human facing just one lifetime before they enter eternity, one or many lifetimes are just the blink of an eye.
2 Peter 3:8 says, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Psalms 90:4-6 states, “A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—they are like the new grass of the morning: In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.” In God’s economy justice may come after our entire lifetime, but of one thing we are sure—He is faithful to do justice on our behalf. In Galatians 4:4, Paul said, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons.”
This fullness of time took millennia from the first prophesy of Jesus’ redemption that came at the Fall in the garden. Israel also was prophesied in the book of Isaiah in Isa 66:8 which says, “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.” Israel was born literally in one day—May 14th, 1948. And Zion was birthed there and in God’s kingdom through Christ on the day of His resurrection in a double fulfillment of the Isaiah prophesy which occurred hundreds of years earlier. Neither the “fullness of time” or the day of birth are in our hands and may not remotely occur in our perception of proper timing. Only God’s wisdom determines these things. Our job is to trust in Him and petition Him in faith just like this persistent widow—without giving up.
The second thing I want to consider is a chunk of Jesus statement when He promises vindication of His children. He says in Luke 18, verses 7-8, “And shall not God avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, *though He bears long with them*? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Where else do we see this phrase “bear with you”? The one story that comes to my mind is the story of the boy convulsed by a demon. In the book of Mark 9:14-29, we see the father of the boy confess to Jesus that His disciples had tried to cast the spirit out and failed. Then Jesus responds, saying in verse 19, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I *bear with you*? Bring him to Me.” The father then explains his situation and pleads with Jesus to have compassion and help them, to which Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” The father then cried out with tears and said, “Lord, I believe; help me with my unbelief!”
It wasn’t just the father who struggled with unbelief. In the same story in the book of Matthew 17:14-21, the disciples asked Jesus later why they couldn’t cast it out. In verse 20-21, Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” We see, that God “bears with” our unbelief. It must be insulting to fail to trust in a God who has proven He is trustworthy in such consistent and dramatic displays of complete faithfulness over history.
On the other hand, just like He did with the father of the boy, God bears with us in our frailty and humanity, struggling in our own weakness when faced with trial and suffering. It is hard to believe when you’re in it and God has shown that He has compassion and understanding for us. Sometimes, just as this boy with the demon, we are to add fasting to our faith. We are to show our faithful sacrifice as an offering to God for His delivering help. We are to fight the spiritual battle against the devil with selfless sacrifice as we are defined by the truth of the cross and stand in direct opposition to the devil’s mission to steal, kill, and destroy.
So just like this father and the disciples, just like the persistent widow with the unjust judge, we must persist in prayer with faith, even faith as small as a mustard seed. We must trust that God is faithful to vindicate and avenge us as His children and “speedily” at that. Even if it is not in our lifetime on earth, it is indeed speedy next to the eternity that He has prepared for us—the eternity that we are to always keep our eyes fixed on as the reality framing our lives and our faith. We must realize that God is not slow, but His timing is in perfect wisdom to accomplish perfect justice. We must trust and praise Him and persist just as that widow in our prayers, even prayers that cry out day and night. God is patient to bear with us and indeed He has mercy on our condition. To our prayers, we add selfless sacrifice and faithfulness to God our Savior.
So, let us persist as this widow did and believe until the end. May Jesus find faith in our hearts when He comes- let Him find faith in the earth! Let us know with certainty that, indeed, to those who persist in faith and praise God for His faithfulness, nothing is impossible! Thank You Lord!