Luke 18:1-8 (NRSV)
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Chapter 18Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. Verse 2He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. Verse 3In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' Verse 4For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, Verse 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" Verse 6And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. Verse 7And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? Verse 8I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Devotion
Sometimes the parables of Jesus don't really make sense when we first read them and we wonder just what it is he is trying to say. But today we are told flat out that this parable is about the need to pray always and not to lose heart. Yet more and more I hear from people that prayer is not part of their faith lives. Sure, they pray at church when everyone else does, but every day? By themselves? Really? No way. Yet prayer is our lifeline to God. It is the act that reminds us that God is God and we are not. Prayer is our being vulnerable and open about what concerns us, what changes us, or what inspires us and sharing it with God. Prayer is one of those things that the more you try it, the more you realize how much you need to keep on doing it.
Prayer
Gracious God, in good times and bad, when our faith is strong and when it is weak, help us to pray. May your Spirit intercede for us with sighs too deep for words when we do not know how to pray as we ought. Amen.