Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
What are you praying for today? You might be praying for somebody that just received a diagnosis. Maybe it's a loved one. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe you have family who doesn't know the Lord, and they've strayed there in the world and are just doing their own thing—and you're wondering if God will ever get ahold of their lives.
Maybe you're praying for your anxiety or your depression. I remember when I was praying for my depression to leave and, you probably know—after you pray for years and years and you don't see any results, it's so easy to just lose heart and say, I'm done praying because I don't see any results.
I remember praying for a friend that I thought God would heal and my friend ended up passing away. When you pray and you don't see the Lord move, it has a way of crushing your spirit. In our text today, this is a beautiful lesson on the persistent widow. It's also a lesson on prayer—that we should never give up praying.
Our Verse of the Day comes from Luke chapter 18, verse 1. It says, "One day Jesus told His disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up."
The Persistent Widow
There's two characters in this parable. There's the unjust judge who is not godly, doesn't fear God, is mistreating his people and keeps saying no to this persistent widow that's pleading her case.
What I love about this widow is there's some tenacity in her. There's grit. She keeps coming to him over and over. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I mean, she is there. This unjust judge keeps ignoring her, but she keeps coming over and over. Then Luke chapter 18, verses 4 and 5 say, "The judge ignored her for a while, but finally said to himself, 'I don't fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I'm going to see that she gets justice.'" And then she does get justice.
Jesus is telling this to His disciples, reminding the disciples that they have a God that cares deeply for them, how much more will He listen to His kids? If this unjust judge gave this widow justice, how much more will our God pay attention to our requests?
Our Job Is to Pray
I don't know where you're at today. Maybe you stopped praying. Maybe you've given up on God, and you're like, I don't even know if I still believe in prayer. I want to remind you something today. Our job is to pray, but the results, they belong to God. See, the promise of the Gospel is not that you and I are going to have this life that's pain free. It's not a life of ease. We're not going to have that. The promise that we have is whatever it is that we go through, whether it's a diagnosis, whether it's depression, anxiety, or loss, we have a God that is an ever-present help in our time of need. I want to encourage you, God will go before you. Our job is to keep praying and trust that He is ultimately in control, not us.
