Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, 2 saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. 3 There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 4 For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; 7 now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? 8 I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1-8. [NASB]
As my pastor pointed out, this is not an analogy. We are not to look on God as an unjust judge. Rather, this is an a fortiori argument. Another example is God’s care over the sparrows and his care over us. If God cares even about the sparrows, how much more does he care about us?
The example in Luke 18 is similar. If an unjust judge will eventually give justice to a woman he cares nothing about, how quickly will God answer the prayers of his chosen ones?
Although the widow is persistent, we are not told that persistence is the point of the parable. We are told, in fact, the opposite. We are told that God’s chosen ones can expect justice quickly. This would seem to mean that God will answer our prayers quickly.
There is a final question that may be the key to this parable: Will [the Son of Man] find faith on the earth? Faith is the confidence that God will bring about speedy justice for his elect who cry out to him day and night. If this speaks about prayer, then we have to understand that we must have faith to believe that God will answer our prayers.
Indeed, it may be that this is the very reason that God, who knows everything, asks us to tell him our needs. He wants us to show our faith in him.
– SSXG