Don’t Give In

Don’t Give In

Don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Luke 18:7

SOMETIMES YOU HEAR GOD CLEARLY or see his direction so plainly spelled out in Scripture that you know you are praying according to his will. Still, nothing is happening. He seems not to be answering. The contradictions to his will persist—broken relationships, bad choices, evil aggressors, injustices that violate his Kingdom—and they are damaging lives. Eventually, you resign yourself to the mystery of unanswered prayer, concluding that your prayers must not be in his will. Even though they clearly are.

That’s exactly the kind of situation that prompted Jesus to tell his disciples parables about persisting in prayer. In the parable of the relentless widow and the unjust judge in Luke 18, Luke spells out Jesus’ purpose up front: “to show that they should always pray and never give up” (verse 1). No matter what answer or lack of an answer we have gotten; no matter how long the unjust situation has persisted; no matter how many times we have already prayed the same thing; we are to keep crying out for justice, rightness, and truth. In every situation, we are to pray for God’s Kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven—and never stop. For whatever reason, this is how God has chosen to work. We ask, he answers, and his will is done. Sometimes it is just done long after the asking begins.

Never resign yourself to things that are not God’s will. Adjust your requests, if needed. Learn to see his will in unexpected situations; sometimes he gets really creative with the people and circumstances he works with. Always pray with a certain amount of flexibility for him to accomplish his will unconventionally. But don’t give in. Far too many prayer projects have been left unfinished, with answers hanging like nearly ripe fruit from a tree, while God’s will remains undone. One of the greatest character traits you can develop is tenacity in pursuing God’s purposes on earth. Apply it to your family, church, school, workplace, community, city, and beyond. He authorized relentless prayers, so pray them boldly—day and night until God brings justice into your world.

Nothing great was ever done without much enduring.