Year One, June 24

[Disciples] Ought Always To Pray1

Our time will be well spent if we study one of our Lord’s messages about prayer. It consists of two parables.

  

Luke 18:1-14

1And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. (To begin praying is easy, but to continue in it is another thing. Too often we allow ourselves to become weary or distracted and then we lose our focus, and then we lose the blessing.) 2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”

He was a wicked man without feeling. He was more than willing to be dishonest and rule in the wrong person’s favor. The person who brought her case to him was a poor woman. Her husband who might have pled her case for her had died. He was hard hearted and did not care about her sad story. Yet her persistence won her case. He was afraid of being tired to death and therefore he paid attention to her cry. Every part of the parable strengthens our case. We deal with a faithful and gracious God, who is ready to hear us. While it is true that we are poor and feeble, it is also true that we have a powerful Advocate2 in the great Husband of the church. Therefore, if we do not receive an answer to our prayer the first time, we should pray again and again, and never stop until our persistence is answered.

6And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? (They are not strangers, but “his elect.” God will certainly listen to them.) 8I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. (The prayers of the suffering church will not have long to wait. God’s time does arrive.) Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Faith is so rare that even Jesus will hardly find any of it when he returns to earth. Shame on our unbelief.)

9He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: (He stood by himself as if he was too holy to be touched by others. His prayer was not a real prayer, but just his way of showing his presumed superiority.) ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ (He pretended to be praising God, but he was only praising himself. It is all “I,” “I fast,” “I give,” and so on. As if this was not bad enough, he felt a need to criticize others by making a list of his own “virtues” while insulting his neighbor by pointing out what he considered the tax collector’s “faults.”)

13“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner!’ (“He confessed his sin. He beat on his heart as the cause of his sin. He pleaded for mercy, and looked to the atonement as his only hope. His prayer was real! ‘Be favorable toward me because of the atonement.’”3) 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. (The despised tax collector had a sweet sense of pardon in his heart. The Pharisee did not. In fact, he did not even ask to be pardoned.) For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

From all this let us learn to pray persistently, but not proudly. We must be in earnest, but still humble. We may be bold, but not proud. Lord teach us to pray.

“Be favorable toward me because of the atonement.”

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¹ Luke 18:1

² Advocate - An attorney or lawyer. Also a champion crusader, spokesperson, fighter. Someone who has your best interests at heart and acts on your behalf. See 1 John 2:1: “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

³  This is the editor’s paraphrase. Spurgeon is quoting from Adam Clarke’s Commentary (circa 1817), “Be propitious toward me through sacrifice.” (KJV)