God Hears Every Prayer Series

Title: God Hears Every Prayer

Intro: Unanswered prayers are often prayers being answered in ways we cannot yet see or understand.

Scripture: Luke 18:1-8

Reflection

Dear Friends,

There was a widow in my village when I was growing up. Every morning, she would walk past our house on her way to the government office. Every single morning. Rain or shine. For three years, she walked that same path, carrying the same worn folder with her land documents, seeking justice for a boundary dispute that had robbed her of her livelihood.

I remember asking my mother why the woman kept going when nothing ever changed. My mother looked at me with gentle eyes and said something I have never forgotten: “Because hope is not about when the answer comes. Hope is about believing the answer will come.”

Today, Jesus tells us a story that sounds remarkably similar. A widow. A judge. And a prayer that would not stop.

In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus shares this parable with a specific purpose—“that they should always pray and not give up.” Not sometimes pray. Not pray when convenient. Not pray when we feel spiritual. Always pray. And never, ever give up.

The story is stark in its honesty. There is a judge who neither fears God nor cares about people. This is not a good man. This is not someone who wakes up thinking about justice and righteousness. He is indifferent, callous, perhaps even corrupt. And there is a widow—the most vulnerable person in ancient society, someone with no social power, no legal standing, no husband to advocate for her cause.

She comes to this judge seeking justice against her adversary. We do not know the details of her case. Was it about property? About debt? About her very survival? The scripture does not tell us. What it does tell us is that she kept coming. Again and again and again.

For a while, the judge refuses. He ignores her. Dismisses her. Probably never even looks up from whatever occupied his attention. But she does not stop. Day after day, she returns. Her voice becomes familiar in his corridors. Her face becomes impossible to ignore. Her persistence becomes legendary.

Finally—not because his heart softens, not because he suddenly discovers compassion, not because he fears God or cares about doing what is right—but simply because she is wearing him out, he grants her justice. “Because this widow keeps bothering me,” he says, “I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!”

It is almost comical. This powerful judge, defeated by the persistence of a powerless woman.

But Jesus is not telling us a story about a widow and a judge. He is telling us a story about us and God. And here is where the parable takes a beautiful turn.

Jesus says, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.”

Do you see what Jesus is doing? He is arguing from the lesser to the greater. If even an unjust judge will eventually respond to persistent prayer, how much more will a loving Father respond to his children?

This is not about badgering God until he gives in. This is not about God being reluctant and needing to be convinced. This is about something far more profound—about the nature of faith itself, about learning to trust when trust feels impossible, about continuing to believe when belief requires everything we have.

I think about the mother I met last month whose son has been struggling with addiction for seven years. Seven years of prayers. Seven years of tears. Seven years of holding on to hope when hope seemed foolish. She told me, “Father, I do not know if my prayers are changing my son yet, but I know they are changing me. They are teaching me that love does not give up. They are teaching me that faith is not about getting what I want when I want it. Faith is about trusting that God is working even when I cannot see it.”

She is living this parable.

The psalmist writes in Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Waiting is not passive. Waiting is not giving up. Waiting is active trust. Waiting is persistent prayer. Waiting is the widow walking to the judge’s house one more time.

But here is what breaks my heart about this passage. Jesus ends with a question that should make us pause: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Will he find people still praying? Will he find people still trusting? Will he find people who have not given up, not grown cynical, not stopped believing that prayer matters?