“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” (Hebrews 11:1-2) Jesus’s example of the persistent widow in the first seven verses is a prime example of faith expressed with pleading day after day, even though the odds of being granted her request were very low.
Faith involves time, for how can hope exist and certainty be exposed if time is not involved? Abraham waited twenty-five years for the promise of a son. David waited over twenty-two years from being anointed to becoming king of all Israel. Judah waited seventy years in captivity until the Lord returned them to the Promised Land as he promised through the prophet Jeremiah. Faith is proven true for those who wait with persistent prayers.
Jesus interestingly concluded the parable with, “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” Does this counter the parable’s point, which required time? Or did he mean that when God does answer prayer, justice will be quickly executed? The latter, for time was the opponent that the persistent widow conquered with faithful pleas.
Jesus concluded by asking the rhetorical question, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” As I wait for the quick execution of God on those who neither fear God nor care about others I wonder if my faith will hold to the end.
