#135: Faith Does Not Give Up

One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. ² “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. ³ A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ ⁴ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, ⁵ but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. ⁷ 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? ⁸ I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” (Luke 18, NLT)

Today as we meditate on these verses, may God mobilise faith to arise within us. A faith that perseveres in the place of prayers. Amen.

The illustration Jesus gave in the story was to drive home a lesson-to pray and never give up. In v7, we see a characteristics of God that many times fall on our blind spot. We see here that it is the nature of God to bear long with us in the place of prayers. That is why we experience delays in answer to prayers. These are only a test of our faith in Him; asking one question: where is your faith?

V8 ends with a take home question. All prayers will be answered. They may delay. But when the answer finally comes, will you be at your duty post, prayerfully trusting God to visit you? Will you still have faith? Or would you have fainted or been diacouraged at the time of your visitation?  When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith?

Let us study these verses following to see another example where faith in God and what He can do in a situation made a [gentile] woman persevere in the place of prayer, waiting and trusting in God to answer her rather than giving up:

²¹ Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²² A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.” ²³ But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.” ²⁴ Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.” ²⁸ “Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed. (Matt 15, NLT).

Though Jesus taunted her with silence, her faith would not give up till she got what she desired. May God stir up faith in our hearts that will not faint in the place of waiting on God. For the issues you are praying to God for, can you keep pressing on - till result comes? Today we learn a very important characteristic of faith - it does not give up. Faith make possibilities out of impossible circumstances. It is the greatest force on earth and God has given each of us the ability to exercise it. Don't underutilise it. May God help us. Amen.