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?
Or will he find a world that has stopped knocking because the door has not opened quickly enough? Will he find people who prayed for a week, a month, a year, and then walked away? Will he find hearts that have grown cold because the answer did not come in the timeframe they demanded?
I want to be honest with you. There are prayers I have prayed for years that remain unanswered. There are situations in my own life and in the lives of people I love that seem unchanged despite countless hours on my knees. There are moments when I have wondered if my prayers disappear into silence.
But then I remember something crucial. The silence of heaven is not the absence of heaven. God’s timing is not God’s indifference. And unanswered prayers are often prayers being answered in ways we cannot yet see or understand.
In Isaiah 65:24, God promises, “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” God is not deaf to our prayers. God is not distant. God is not unconcerned. God is working in ways that transcend our immediate understanding.
Think about what persistent prayer does in us. It keeps our hearts soft. It keeps us connected to the source of all hope. It reminds us that we are not in control, but we are in relationship with the One who is. It builds character, strengthens faith, and deepens trust.
Paul writes in Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” These three things are connected. Joy. Patience. Faithfulness. They grow together through persistent prayer.
My dear friends, whatever you are facing today—whether it is a prodigal child, a broken marriage, a financial crisis, a health battle, a dream deferred, a justice denied—do not stop praying. Do not give up. Do not let discouragement steal your faith.
Your prayers are not bouncing off the ceiling. Your tears are not wasted. Your faith is not foolish. God sees. God hears. God cares. And God will bring about justice for his chosen ones.
The widow in Jesus’s parable teaches us that persistence in prayer is not about changing God’s mind. It is about aligning our hearts with God’s purposes. It is about staying connected to the source of life when everything in us wants to disconnect. It is about choosing hope when despair feels more reasonable.
So today, I want to encourage you: keep praying. When you feel like giving up, pray. When answers seem impossible, pray. When heaven feels silent, pray. When you are tired and discouraged and wondering if it matters, pray.
Because our God is not an unjust judge who needs to be worn down. Our God is a loving Father who invites us to come boldly to his throne of grace. Our God is faithful, and he will do what he has promised.
The question Jesus asks echoes across the centuries: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Let him find it in you. Let him find it in me. Let him find it in us—people who never stopped praying, never stopped trusting, never stopped believing that with God, all things are possible.
May the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen…
