This was always one of my favorite parables because of this judge's utter exasperation that finally impelled him to do the right thing, albeit for the wrong reason. It's so quintessentially human!
We miss the point if we try to connect the dots between this earthly solon's motives and our Eternal Judge's constant readiness to receive our heartfelt pleas.
Instead, I rejoice at Jesus' unerring insight into human nature and how accessible it makes these parables to readers like us, two millennia later.
Praying for the salvation of multiple family members through what feels like decades of silence. Thank you for this bold encouragement to persist in prayer until Jesus returns!
I’m a widow to a pastor. The passing was sudden, unexpected, and horrific in circumstance. Lost home, church family, and much more. What I have not lost is Jesus…Who has remained faithful. Every day His peace and Presence have been pervasive, His comfort real, despite having no understanding or answers. Therefore, He is enough. I’ll know and understand in heaven and join the choir that says “faithful and true and just are Your ways.” I’m also in a situation dealing with a judge and evil men in legal circumstances. Your post was straight from the Lord…again. Prayer is like an IV of sustenance to my heart. So thankful the Lord led me to your account.
I have been thinking much about prayer in recent years. It has always bothered me that in the culture of the various Christian traditions I grew up in that prayer has always seemed to be a rather compartmentalized activity. Even the word "prayer" employed by itself seems to indicate that prayer is just one of the many activities in which we Christians engage in our daily lives rather than the life bound in mutual union with God that we actually live, day in and day out. We have our lives, in our expectations at least, neatly scheduled into work time, school time, prayer time, dinner time etc as if our prayer time is just another "time" of many times, the needs of which we try to dutifully attend.
The only difference between our expectations of any of these is that we hope that in some special way the effects of prayer time will miraculously "rub off" on all of the other times. In Scripture we are admonished to pray constantly and God always encouraged me to take this duty quite seriously. I don't know about the experience of others but this arrangement, for much of my life, fell abysmally short of "praying constantly". I tried for years to just pray all of the time, most often with what I concluded were unsatisfactory results, not for lack of effort but because I really had no idea what I was actually attempting to accomplish by my efforts other than that I was trying in any way I was capable to be obedient to the admonition of scripture. Having always been a rather contemplative sort I began to listen at the feet of our Father for His wisdom on the matter and He advised me simply that I am a Saint. At first that advice didn't seem to help at all. Anyone who has known me for any length of time would laugh at the notion that I am of a such a saintly disposition that I exercise my rights consistent with this state even most of the time. Over time I began to realize that God was not speaking of my Sainthood in the sense that it is a done deal already sealed but a state in which I had years before begun to become a participant without even my knowledge. We often perceive something of a "gap" that seems more like an abyss than a gap, between the end our life here on earth and our final arrival in Heaven. The one thing I could see clearly is that becoming a participant in our utterly unique Sainthood here on earth bridges that gap which is actually real seamlessly. The obvious question I had to ask about participation in my Sainthood is, "what is it that Saints engage in, in Heaven in which I might have the capacity to engage in as a participant in the disposition of Heaven here on earth?". Obviously I thought, Saints do not have prayer times so what do they have. Then it occurred to me that Saints attend our God incessantly at His feet, actually immersed in a magnificently prayerful disposition. It also was apparent to me that this was not just another prayerful exercise in which we earthlings might just up and decide to engage. Instead of my former engagement in as many "prayer times" as I possibly could, It seemed to me as though I was being given permission by God to take up the incessantly prayerful disposition of my destiny of Sainthood in Heaven. I soon realized that no matter how I was otherwise engaged that I could be entirely attendant to the Person, the needs, and the desires of our God alone, for His sake alone. So instead of separate instances where I would engage in prayer, I had taken up a disposition at the feet of our Father that is incessantly attendant to Him no matter where I am and no matter what I may be doing. I recall, long ago in the evangelical days of my youth that we would speak of ourselves as having "a prayer life" rather than what our God actually intends is a disposition of uninterrupted prayerful attendance only Him. I can see now that the expectation of having a prayer life rather than our engagement our in a life of prayerful attendance to God alone was actually a false notion that indicates that our disposition in prayer, from which our spiritual needs are actually provided for by God, were self centered rather than being exclusively attendant to the needs of our God and relying upon Him to know our needs and provide for them often without need even for our asking. It is the prayerful disposition in which we are free to incessantly attend our God at His feet that bridges for us the gap between our destiny of Sainthood here on earth and our established Sainthood once this state is finally attained in Heaven.
Amen. When I was in the Army I ran every kind of range. The put, put, put. of the M60 machine gun now reminds me of how I pray, Pray, pray, pray, pray, trying to fight back the evil of this world. What helps me too is Putting God First https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V48bmkDwMmk
"Show up tired. Show up dry. Show up without answers. Just show up. Pray. And don’t quit. He sees you. And he’s coming."
This was always one of my favorite parables because of this judge's utter exasperation that finally impelled him to do the right thing, albeit for the wrong reason. It's so quintessentially human!
We miss the point if we try to connect the dots between this earthly solon's motives and our Eternal Judge's constant readiness to receive our heartfelt pleas.
Instead, I rejoice at Jesus' unerring insight into human nature and how accessible it makes these parables to readers like us, two millennia later.
Ah, this is so good!
Thanks for taking the time to read
Praying for the salvation of multiple family members through what feels like decades of silence. Thank you for this bold encouragement to persist in prayer until Jesus returns!
I’m a widow to a pastor. The passing was sudden, unexpected, and horrific in circumstance. Lost home, church family, and much more. What I have not lost is Jesus…Who has remained faithful. Every day His peace and Presence have been pervasive, His comfort real, despite having no understanding or answers. Therefore, He is enough. I’ll know and understand in heaven and join the choir that says “faithful and true and just are Your ways.” I’m also in a situation dealing with a judge and evil men in legal circumstances. Your post was straight from the Lord…again. Prayer is like an IV of sustenance to my heart. So thankful the Lord led me to your account.
Maranatha, even so Lord Jesus, come quickly. And all God's people said Amen!
Hannah wanted a child and was persistent in her prayers. Be persistent and dont give up. Remind God continually of His promises 🙏🙏🙏
I have been thinking much about prayer in recent years. It has always bothered me that in the culture of the various Christian traditions I grew up in that prayer has always seemed to be a rather compartmentalized activity. Even the word "prayer" employed by itself seems to indicate that prayer is just one of the many activities in which we Christians engage in our daily lives rather than the life bound in mutual union with God that we actually live, day in and day out. We have our lives, in our expectations at least, neatly scheduled into work time, school time, prayer time, dinner time etc as if our prayer time is just another "time" of many times, the needs of which we try to dutifully attend.
The only difference between our expectations of any of these is that we hope that in some special way the effects of prayer time will miraculously "rub off" on all of the other times. In Scripture we are admonished to pray constantly and God always encouraged me to take this duty quite seriously. I don't know about the experience of others but this arrangement, for much of my life, fell abysmally short of "praying constantly". I tried for years to just pray all of the time, most often with what I concluded were unsatisfactory results, not for lack of effort but because I really had no idea what I was actually attempting to accomplish by my efforts other than that I was trying in any way I was capable to be obedient to the admonition of scripture. Having always been a rather contemplative sort I began to listen at the feet of our Father for His wisdom on the matter and He advised me simply that I am a Saint. At first that advice didn't seem to help at all. Anyone who has known me for any length of time would laugh at the notion that I am of a such a saintly disposition that I exercise my rights consistent with this state even most of the time. Over time I began to realize that God was not speaking of my Sainthood in the sense that it is a done deal already sealed but a state in which I had years before begun to become a participant without even my knowledge. We often perceive something of a "gap" that seems more like an abyss than a gap, between the end our life here on earth and our final arrival in Heaven. The one thing I could see clearly is that becoming a participant in our utterly unique Sainthood here on earth bridges that gap which is actually real seamlessly. The obvious question I had to ask about participation in my Sainthood is, "what is it that Saints engage in, in Heaven in which I might have the capacity to engage in as a participant in the disposition of Heaven here on earth?". Obviously I thought, Saints do not have prayer times so what do they have. Then it occurred to me that Saints attend our God incessantly at His feet, actually immersed in a magnificently prayerful disposition. It also was apparent to me that this was not just another prayerful exercise in which we earthlings might just up and decide to engage. Instead of my former engagement in as many "prayer times" as I possibly could, It seemed to me as though I was being given permission by God to take up the incessantly prayerful disposition of my destiny of Sainthood in Heaven. I soon realized that no matter how I was otherwise engaged that I could be entirely attendant to the Person, the needs, and the desires of our God alone, for His sake alone. So instead of separate instances where I would engage in prayer, I had taken up a disposition at the feet of our Father that is incessantly attendant to Him no matter where I am and no matter what I may be doing. I recall, long ago in the evangelical days of my youth that we would speak of ourselves as having "a prayer life" rather than what our God actually intends is a disposition of uninterrupted prayerful attendance only Him. I can see now that the expectation of having a prayer life rather than our engagement our in a life of prayerful attendance to God alone was actually a false notion that indicates that our disposition in prayer, from which our spiritual needs are actually provided for by God, were self centered rather than being exclusively attendant to the needs of our God and relying upon Him to know our needs and provide for them often without need even for our asking. It is the prayerful disposition in which we are free to incessantly attend our God at His feet that bridges for us the gap between our destiny of Sainthood here on earth and our established Sainthood once this state is finally attained in Heaven.
Thanks for that read, brother!
Amen. When I was in the Army I ran every kind of range. The put, put, put. of the M60 machine gun now reminds me of how I pray, Pray, pray, pray, pray, trying to fight back the evil of this world. What helps me too is Putting God First https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V48bmkDwMmk
Amen