Luke 18:1-8 Two Parables on Prayer.
In this first parable, Jesus contrasts God with an unrighteous judge. Not that
this would happen in our day, but even though this judge admittedly did not
fear or respect either God or man, he would respond to the widow's plea for
justice because her persistence was wearing him out. And God, who is perfectly
righteous, will not delay as long as that judge did, when His people cry out to
Him day and night. Verse 8 then ties this story back to the discussion of the
second coming in the previous chapter. Jesus questions His disciples - when He
returns, will He find the faith (faithful people) on earth?
Luke 18:9-14 The second parable on
prayer - the Pharisee and the publican. Jesus contrasts the self-righteousness
of the Pharisee who thought he had earned God's favor by his works to the
humility of the publican who acknowledged his sinfulness and pleaded for mercy.
God inverts human ways of doing things. The one who is humble will be lifted
up, and the one who exalts himself will be humiliated. Same concept as conveyed
in the story of banquet seating (Luke 14:7-11).
There
is not a formula for prayer here, but a call for a heart that is hungry for God
(verses 1-8) and also humble before God (verses 9-14). If we see our true
condition and respond, we would see our need for God's intervention in our
lives to deliver us from all of the guilt, the circumstances, and the
consequences of sin. And if we see things truly, and realize how desperate our
condition is, we would pray fervently, day and night, wearing out God with our
pleading, so that He will free us from sin's power to enslave us, and grant us
legal protection from it.
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