The Bold Widow and the Unjust Judge
David W Palmer
(Luke 18:1 NLT) One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.
Our amazing Lord is about to give his disciples a story. In this opening statement, he tells us why he employed such a parable: “to show that they should always pray and never give up.”
From this, we can already see that God wants us to persist in prayer to him. This is not because he doesn’t know our needs; he certainly does—even before we ask him (Mat. 6:8). And it is not because he is reluctant to help us:
(1 John 5:14–15 NKJV) Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. {15} And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
If it’s not because Father doesn’t know our needs or want to help us, why does Jesus say that we should pray persistently—“day and night”? To find out, let’s first read the whole parable he gave us; it is divine, supernatural information from God to explain himself and to help us receive what we need:
(Luke 18:1–8 NKJV) Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, {2} saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. {3} Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ {4} And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, {5} yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” {6} Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. {7} And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? {8} I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
In this narration, a widow was in need. Without a husband, she had to fend for herself. She represents us; we are not widowed or orphans, but we are physically without an apparent provider or protector. (Obviously, we have Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit, and the angels. But the natural world cannot see them; we appear to be without a natural provider/protector. So this is simply a picture of us needing to approach a judge directly—in our case, the judge is God.)
The widow had a just cause: “Get justice for me from my adversary.” But in her case, the judge was “unjust.” He didn’t intend to dispense justice; he was in this for himself. However, she got the justice she needed because of her bold, confident, persistence in the assurance that her plea was just and noble. This gave her a righteous boldness:
(Proverbs 28:1 NKJV) The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.
No amount of bullying, belittling, or rebuffs could persuade this woman that she was wrong or not qualified to be asking for justice. She was fully convinced in her inner man that her cause was perfectly right and that she deserved a judgment in her favour. Her persistence proved that she wasn’t doubting or double minded about this in the least way. She was boldly confident with the full assurance of faith and a deep inner knowing:
(Hebrews 11:1 BSB) Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.
