How Persistent Is Your Faith?

 

By: Sarah Geringer 

"But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?"

Luke 18:8b MSG

How persistent is your faith? I've learned a new lesson from a passage in Luke 18 that is making me think differently about persistent faith.

I'll need to break this down for you first from the whole passage. Let's start at the beginning of the chapter.

Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’
“He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding.’”
Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”

Luke 18:1-8 MSG

Jesus wants us to be as persistent in our faith as the widow in this story. Though she had an unlikely shot at justice simply because she was a widow, she demanded justice from this judge day after day. Also, even though she knew he had no regard for God or people, she continued to petition him.

Have you approached God day after day for justice? I admit, until I heard this concept on a podcast episode this week, I had not thought about applying this scripture to my life. But it jumped off the pages for me in my current situation.

Right now in my life, I have no less than four people perpetrating pure evil against me. (You can learn the difference between garden variety sinners and wicked/evil people HERE.). These people are close to me both proximally and relationally. They have no good reason to treat me the way they are doing, but they are joining with the prince of darkness to wage war against me.

I have spent most of my life avoiding conflict. But that strategy has set me up as a scapegoat for wicked and evil people. I have been looking for ways to fight back with active faith rather than passive faith. And this passage in Luke 18 has given me a battle plan.

Instead of just crying out to God with my pain, I have started asking him to work justice for me. To avenge the wickedness being waged against me. To thwart both the evil plans of Satan and the evil plans of people. I desperately want God to put Psalm 28 into literal reality, right in the heart of my situation.

Crying out to God with our pain is good and necessary. But we can sharpen the ends of our arrows against the enemy by asking God to avenge us. Jesus is telling us to boldly storm the gates of heaven with our fervent prayers for justice.

We need to cry out to God "day and night" with our pleas for justice (Luke 18:7 ESV). We can't wear God out with our persistent prayers, like the widow wore out the unjust judge. In fact, Jesus is telling us to ask again and again, day after day, all times of the day. That's what he wants us to do, so we should do it.

God delights in seeing evidence of our persistent faith. Apparently, one way he measures our persistence is by how often we ask him, over and over, for justice in our situations. Jesus even wants to see faith like this when he returns to earth! That's how important it is to him.

I find comfort knowing that God calls me "chosen" in this scripture, and he promises to "stick up" for me and "not drag his feet." It's encouraging to know God is working behind the scenes, right now, so he's not delaying in delivering justice (though I can't see it yet). I need to resist taking it into my own hands through revenge, and instead keep petitioning God with my cries for help, day and night.

I pray that this passage and devotion encourages you to pray consistently and never quit. I pray that if you are facing a hard situation delivered to you by Satan or evil people, you will cry out to God day and night for justice. I'll be joining you in this quest, and I appreciate your prayers that the human and spiritual enemies will be completely defeated in my situation!

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Have a blessed weekend!

Sarah Geringer
Finding Peace in God's Word

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