Luke 18:1-3 NIV
[1] “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. [2] He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. [3] And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “

How often Jesus told stories to illustrate the vast difference between God’s way and people’s way of doing things. In this parable, according to the Hebrew understanding of prayer, a widow approached the judge, the one who had authority to respond to her need, for a solution to her problem.

The judge eventually gave in to her request because of her persistence, not because it was his duty to intervene.

Luke 18:4-5 NIV
[4] “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, [5] yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ”

By contrast, Jesus explained, God is our Father. He will act on our behalf because of who He is, not because He wants to get us off His back. Persistence and perseverance in prayer are not intended to get God to do something for us. Rather, they are evidence of our faith in our heavenly Father to answer our prayers.

Luke 18:6-8 NIV
[6] And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. [7] 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? [8] I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.”

Jesus concluded His story with a telling question…

“However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Jesus’! question has a note of frustration and sadness in it. Was He remembering the history of His own people, His long years of wrestling with stubborn disobedience, rebellion, and idolatry? How few of His own people, in the Old Covenant dispensation, were true to Him? Despite His grace, forgiveness, and patience with them over the centuries, they still went into exile for their disobedience and, up to the time of His own life on earth as the Son of God, they still acted outside the heart of His covenant.

Habakkuk 1:2-4 NIV
[2] “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? [3] Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. [4] Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.”

God’s covenant requirements, detailed as they were, had one goal.

Micah 6:8 NIV
[8] “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Instead, cruelty, injustice, wickedness prevailed among His own people.

Jesus’ unanswered question must lead us to take stock of our own hearts. If and when our prayers are not answered when we utter them, what is our heart’s response?

Did Jesus ask this question with with two related issues, faith and faithfulness, in mind? In the end, faith and faithfulness are inseparable. One cannot be faithful without faith, and one cannot have faith without being faithful.

The issue is…does God’s apparent tardiness in answering our prayers, immediately, reveal His reluctance to help us or does it mean something different about God that we find difficult to understand?

Somehow, we think that seemingly unanswered prayer is about God’s attitude towards us. However, Jesus points us in a different direction. Isn’t God’s delays exposing something in us? Do God’s delays strengthen our faith in Him and enhance our faithfulness to Him or do they cause us to become disillusioned and give up?

You see, faith and faithfulness are pivotal to our final destiny.

Matthew 24:13 NIV
[13]”…but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

Starting well is imperative but finishing well is the acid test. It seems that our response to God’s delays weeds out true believers from freeloaders. If we keep trusting God when nothing changes, when He seems deaf or indifferent regardless of who He says He is, our confidence is in His Word, not in our feelings.

This is vital for our present and our future. Unwavering trust in Him now will be rewarded! If we can trust Him for today, we can trust Him for all our tomorrows. Why?

2 Timothy 2:11-13 NIV
[11] “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; [12] if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; [13] if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”

The lesson is clear. Our faith or lack of faith is not about us testing God. It’s about God testing us. Without faith, we have no connection with Him and no guarantee that we belong to Him or that He has any obligation to answer our prayers.

Faith in His faithfulness, guaranteed in His Word, is our only link with the Father. Without faith, in Him, regardless of what He does or does not do for us, we have no connection with Him.