Do you sometimes wonder if God's hears your prayers? You have prayed about a problem or situation for a long time, but all you receive is silence. Nothing seems to change. How do you handle God's silence? Are you tempted to give up and allow yourself to deeper and deeper into despair?

How do we understand the spiritual discipline of prayer? What is its purpose? Is prayer an "easy" button to tap to right wrongs, to eliminate problems, questions, and doubts, or to get what we want?

Our Conversation Continues  . . . with the Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge, which is printed below. Jesus uses this parable to teach lessons on the need for, and the importance of endurance and perseverance in, prayer in the life of Christian discipleship. 

It is not surprising that this parable on prayer appears in Luke's Gospel. Jesus' prayer life and teachings on prayer are a recurring theme in Luke's Gospel that frequently notes Jesus withdrawing to pray and his teachings on prayer. But, like all of Jesus' parables, it also provides glimpses of other deeper truths about God's nature and how faithful discipleship is lived out in God's kingdom. 

In an unusual twist, Jesus tells us what the parable means before telling it. Jesus says that we should pray always and never lose heart. Then Jesus introduces a judge and a widow who are the main characters in the story. We are told that the judge neither "fears" (has no reverence for God), nor cares about people. Tension mounts immediately. Is the judge "fit" or "unqualified" to decide matters of justice, compassion, and mercy?

Then there is a widow who comes to the judge seeking justice on her complaint of being mistreated by someone. We are not told about the nature of the widow's complaint. Perhaps, someone has refused to give her something due or owed to her.

The judge initially refuses to hear her complaint. Is it because she doesn't have the "right" connections, lacks power, influence and money, and is therefore a "nobody?" Perhaps, he is inluenced by the widow's more powerful adversary. Whatever the judges reasons are, his actions confirm that he is "unfit" to be a judge.  

Have you found yourself in a position like the widow? You have prayed your needs and desires to God. You hear Jesus' invitation to pray always and do not lose heart. And you think, "easier said then done," when life's "alligators" of problems, troubles, or unfulfilled desires are nipping at you and threatening to crush your spirit, body, mind, and even your life. 

The widow refuses to give up. She relentlessly pesters the judge to grant her justice. The judge has a conversation with himself, not unlike the prodigal child and the dishonest steward, and finally decides to grant the widow her reuest. He does it just to get rid of her and keep her from bothering him and wearing him down.

Jesus concludes the parable by telling us that if the "unjust" can grant justice, imagine what God will do. Do you see Jesus' image of the judge as a negative example to reveal, by contrast, that God is just and merciful to all and especially toward those who are powerless and lack voice to secure justice? Does Jesus' lesson to pray always and not lose heart take on a different tone?

Does this parable speak a word of hope to us who may be waiting for God's answers to our prayers? It should, for Jesus says that God quickly grants justice. Have you considered prayer as a way in which we open our lives to God and allow God to enter? 

Perhaps, Jesus' lesson on prayer in this parable is also a challenge to pray to open the doors of our hearts for Jesus to come in. Jesus does shove the dooropen. He waits for an invitation that comes through prayer. Maybe Jesus is inviting us to keep praying in order to always remain open to God's leading and guiding.

God doesn't always remove our problems or grant our wishes as we pray them. Yet, through prayer we receive assurance that God is with us and for us through all of life's ups and downs.     

When Jesus enters our lives, we are able to see our need to know the Savior who first showed us grace, justice, mercy, and compassion. We are able to accept the challenge of the more important question, "Will we be just in our relationships? Will we see discipleship as faithfully responding to the needs of others in our midst?

As you continue conversation with this parable, consider the ways that prayer has changed you, caused you to reorder priorities, to focus on the positive rather than dwelling on the negative.

Do you trust God? Do you believe that "right" will prevail over "wrong?"

How will you handle God's seeming silence?

Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge (Luke 18: 1 - 8, NRSV)

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had an respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.'

For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet beause this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'

And the Liord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?"