“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” Luke 18:7 ESV
Reflection: What is your prayer strategy?
We had a recent case here in the United States where a judge ruled against the current administration, claiming what they were doing regarding deportation of criminal illegal immigrants was unconstitutional. The next step will involve the defendant, the administration, having to argue their case before a court, to try to overturn the verdict. Depending on which side of the argument you are on, the impact of the ruling can be fair or unfair. We have probably all experienced what we consider to be “unfair” treatment in life. Perhaps even had to take our case before a committee or a court to argue our side, to ask the judge to hear our case. And if we were in the wrong, we might have needed to ask the court or the judge for leniency, to plead for mercy.
In a way, prayer can also be like being in a courtroom before a judge, where we plead our case before the Lord. We know that we have an adversary, Satan the accuser, who is arguing against God’s children. The story of Job in the Old Testament describes this scenario in some detail, an interesting read when you have time. And Jesus uses a courtroom scene for a parable, to teach us a lesson about prayer. To encourage us to plead our cases before the Lord. He starts out:
“In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’” Luke 18:2b-3 ESV. Since the judge doesn’t care about what is right, or about this woman, he tries to ignore the woman. But she is persistent, and the judge eventually gives in to her request. And Jesus makes the point here that, “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” Luke 18:7 ESV So how does this work,
practically speaking?
Let’s look at a couple of examples, both dealing with pleading a case. Notice the woman in the parable was demanding justice, as she had the right on her side. She had been treated unfairly, so she was only pleading for a righteous. just verdict. If we know we have the facts on our side, and have been treated unfairly, unjust, we absolutely should bring all the facts before the Lord. Now, we must remember that the devil always comes well prepared before the Lord, to argue against us. We must therefore be well prepared with our facts of the case, to plead before the Lord, and ask Him for a righteous, just ruling based on His righteousness.
Another example is when we are in the wrong. We don’t have the facts on our side, and we must plead before the Lord for mercy. Thankfully, our God is merciful to those who humble themselves and don’t try to push blame off to others. We read, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 ESV. “For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.” Psalm 149:4 ESV. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”” Luke 14:11 ESV.
All throughout the Bible, we learn many prayer strategies. And we must remember that prayer is used for many purposes, and we should approach it accordingly. It might be in thanksgiving, even singing praises to our God. It might be just to stay connected with our loving Father throughout the day. It might be to bring a specific request before Him, asking for understanding of His will. Or, in the cases we looked at, to plead our case for justice or even for mercy. Prayer is all of that, and more. God has given us this amazing gift to stay connected with Him. Paul wrote “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV