Luke 18:1-8(ESV)

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The point of this parable is not that God’s arm can be twisted into doing something other than what He has ordained, but that God is faithful to vindicate the cries for justice from His elect.

The point in the comparison between God and the judge is not that God is like the judge in His actions, motives, or progression of thought to action, but that God is greater than this judge, who though an earthly judge may be moved to action by being wearied by the persistent pleas of this woman, God is not wearied by the cries for justice from His elect. In fact He will not delay, but I would argue is always at work unfolding His justice and deliverance to be fulfilled at the end of the age. Again, this parable is not saying that God is moved by repetitiousness and that if only His elect would plead more and ask more He would be moved to do something, but that His elect should pray and have faith, not losing heart, having the knowledge that their God who waits on them is not like an earthly judge who must be swayed, but that God “works all things together for good for those that love God and are called according to His purpose”, that God is not in need of persuading, but like as the perfect, just and good Father that He is He answers the pleas of His elect speedily.

Now that begs the answer to the question, “What does speedily mean?” In light of eternity and the scope of God’s vision and our own personal experience as His children we know that this can not be defined as within a week, twenty-four hours, a year…. I believe the answer could be found at the end of the parable “when the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth?” We He find faith? Will He find those who have prayed and not lost heart after years of toil? As God’s elect we are to be heavenly minded, having fixed our eyes on that which is to come. We often experience the direct answers to our pleas here on earth, but yet I believe we are to pray and not grow weary knowing that “speedily” all will be made right and we should live with that perspective. That if God chooses to reveal His will and answer and vindicate me in a instant that is well, but that I can as one of His elect rest in His goodness and justice that when I pray to Him He cares and is speedily at work to right the wrongs, to come to my aid, to defend me… even if I do not see it or experience it tangibly until the moment when Jesus wipes all tears from my eyes.
Note: It has been a long time since any post. I hope and pray that I will have more chances to write in the coming days. May God be glorified.