Thanks for joining us on this journey of building a consistent habit of reading our Bibles every day. The Bible reading plan we are using this year can be found here: One Year Bible or here on the Bible app. As always, if you miss a day, don’t feel compelled to go back and catch up. Just skip it and start back on today’s date. I am reading the NLT this year, but feel free to use whatever version you prefer. Now here are some thoughts from today’s readings:
Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?
– Luke 18:7
Isn’t this a strange picture of God? He seems to be comparing Himself to a judge who has no compassion at all. The judge simply responds to this widow because she won’t leave him alone. God says in the same way He will respond to His people when they… Well… Begin to annoy Him?
I think the heart behind this analogy can be lost easily. The point is, the widow realized the judge was her only real hope of justice. She could have tried to take things into her own hands, but we all know how that story goes. Instead, she put her trust in the judge so much so that she became relentless in her pursuit of him. In the same way, we should put our trust in God that fully. We should refuse to take things into our own hands. We should pursue God with everything, knowing He is our only hope. And God says He can not refuse people like that.
If you look deeper, you’ll see God is not comparing himself to the judge at all. He is only comparing us to (or, one could argue, against) this little fictional widow who seemed to have more gusto than most believers. When we pray over and over again, it doesn’t mean we don’t trust God. In fact, the opposite is true. Prayer is less about trying to get God to align to our will and more about us trying to align with His. Every time we pray about an issue, we are realigning our faith to God’s purpose. So, how long should we pray about something? Until our Judge gives us a verdict. Luckily for us, He is on our side!
What have you given up praying about that you need to pick back up?