Cry Loud and Long for Justice

Luke 18:7-8 
“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? … I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Before you read the next paragraph of this blog, cry to God for justice. Ask him to rain down his righteousness upon the world. Ask for his mercy and peace to flow like a river!

Do you think God heard you? Do you think it matters what you just did? Did you actually pray for justice? Will you do it again? Does God care if you do or don’t?

All those questions are addressed in Luke 18:1-8. For Jesus they are all to be answered “YES”. But he tells this story because he fears that his disciples – both then and now – will fatigue and give up praying for justice. He knows us well.

If you have been following news of the devastating famine in East Africa your heart is no doubt broken. As new statistics roll in we get overwhelmed and fatigued. Are you still praying for God to act justly?

If you are paying attention to the riots in London you probably feel shocked and perhaps anxious. The contagious mayhem and violence is frightening. Are you crying to God for justice?

Frankly all the pain makes you question if God is ever going to answer. The problems are huge and you start to wonder if praying is useless. Some reading this may have given up praying already. Why bother?

And that is the point of Jesus’ story. If you are beginning to feel God is inattentive, uncaring and aloof it is no reason to quit praying. Rather it is a reason to pray harder.

The judge in the parable was a blighter! He “neither feared God nor cared about people”. For a long while he refused to do his job and address the women’s case. But she didn’t stop pleading. She badgered him until she got satisfaction. Her plight drove her to be more insistent not less. Join her!

Heaven is just. All the injustice is on earth. But until God acts, entreat the eternal courtroom with dogged insistence. Go to God as if you were this women’s lawyer. Pray harder, louder and longer. Knock on heaven’s door with indignation and expectation.

According to Jesus, justice IS coming and God WILL bring it. The only question is, will Christians still be expecting it, praying for it and working towards it when he comes. Will the Son of Man “find faith on the earth?”

Questions

• What helps you pray when it feels pointless to do so?
• How does news of injustice affect you? How do you counteract the fatigue of too much bad news?
• What other insights about prayer do you see in this story?

Tweet