Luke 18:1-8 - The Story of a Widow

8 I tell you that He will avenge themspeedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith onthe earth?" Luke18 is a chapter that has influenced my prayer life as much as any other passagein the Bible. I love Luke chapter 18. We mentioned yesterday how people changeour lives, but it's not so much the people themselves, it's the stories fromtheir lives that teach us lessons. We might forget a principle, but we rarelyforget a story. That's why Jesus told parables, and why Luke, a compassionate physicianwho cared about people, wrote about widows and politicians, Pharisees and publicans,children and adults, rich men and beggars. He gave us a rich cast of charactersto learn from, showing how God worked in their lives, how He can work in ours,and how He wants us to live, not just to make a living, but to enjoy life as Heintended. Thisis a powerful story about prayer. Jesus begins this parable by saying that menought always to pray and not lose heart or quit. Either we're praying, or we'requitting. Luke introduces us to a story Jesus told about a widow, featuringthree characters. First, there's a judge in a certain city—an unjust judge whodidn't fear God or man. He did what he wanted, was corrupt, and favored his owninterests, his party, and his friends. We live in a day in America where itseems we have many unjust judges, though, thank God, we have good ones too.Let's not give up on all of them because of the unjust ones. Interestingly,Luke mentions widows more than do all the other Gospel writers combined (Luke2:37-38; 4:25-26; 7:11-17; 18:1-8; 20:45-47; 21:1-4). In that day, widowsusually had a difficult time making ends meet, in spite of the care Godinstructed His people to give them (Ex. 22:22-24; Deut. 14:28-29; 16:9-15; Ps.146:9; Isa. 1:17, 23; Jer. 7:6). The early church was serious about the care ofChristian widows (Acts 6:1; 1 Tim. 5:3-10; James 1:27), a good example for usto follow today. Then,there's an adversary. The widow said, "Give me justice from myadversary." We are like the widow—hopeless and helpless without someone tostand up for us. In Jesus' time in Palestine, widows had no legal standing.They couldn't go to court themselves, had no husband to represent them, and nomoney to bribe a judge or court officials. Judges back then moved from place toplace, setting up court in a tent. Bodyguards or officials stood at the door,and only those who paid bribes or had the right connections could even see thejudge. This widow had no way to get to the judge. All she could do was standoutside, yelling and screaming, "Please avenge me of my adversary." Jesustells us this unjust judge is a picture of God, which we'll explore in thecoming days. For now, we see that we are like the widow, and our adversary isthe devil. He goes about like a roaring lion, deceiving, devouring, stealing,killing, and destroying. This widow had no way to defend herself, and byourselves, we cannot stand against our adversary, the devil. We need to besober and vigilant. He makes a lot of noise, making us think we're in bigtrouble—and we are, if we don't know how to go to our Father in prayer, askingHim to defend us, avenge us, meet our needs, and strengthen us. That'swhy every morning, as I walk around our house, after I pray the Lord's Prayer,I pray, "Lord, avenge me of the adversary in my life, in Edith'slife," and then I pray for my children and grandchildren by name, otherfamily members, and church members, and their families, asking God to avenge usof the adversary today. We have a God who is willing, ready, and waiting withopen arms for us to call on His name to avenge us. What a great lesson. We'llstudy it in more depth tomorrow.   Wemust learn to pray, or we will be overcome by our adversary and will loseheart, faint, and quit. Are you learning to pray? Godbless!