Luke 18:1–8:

“Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. There was also a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, “Give me justice against my adversary.” For a while he refused, but later on he said to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.”’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! Won’t God give justice to His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay long to help them? I tell you, He will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?’”

This is my second message focused on the overall theme of the value of repetition. What do we see with this woman? We see her repeatedly coming to the judge.

Let’s disabuse our minds of all notions that repeatedly asking is a sign of a lack of faith. “Just have faith, have faith”—how? As a mental construction? Remember the point here: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” If this parable is an illustration of faith, that means faith and repetition are closely linked.

Yesterday, I was talking about repeatedly saying no to sin. Today I am talking about repeatedly coming to God in prayer and not stopping—going on and on, repeatedly, day in, day out.

Don’t give God an ultimatum. This widow was not in a position to give the judge an ultimatum. The power was not with her. The power was with her adversary, and the power was with the judge. Jesus brings this story to us and highlights it so that we will see this as a powerful example that repetition is important.

The Bible says, “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). You are invited to keep on asking. You are invited to continually make that request.

When we look at repetition in the Bible, Paul repeatedly pleaded with the Lord to take away the thorn in his flesh (2 Corinthians 12:8). Jesus repeatedly prayed in Gethsemane, “If You are willing, take this cup away from Me,” and He went back and prayed the same words (Matthew 26:44; Luke 22:42–44).

We don’t see Scripture discouraging people from coming to God continually. You see Hannah continually coming to God with that same request (1 Samuel 1). We do not have any idea in Scripture that says, “Stop praying now and just start ‘believing’ instead.” The praying itself is the believing.

God is not man. If it were man, he might say, “You’re disturbing me; do you think I am deaf?” That would be man. But that is not God. God wants to draw something out of us by our repeated coming. He wants to draw out dependence. He wants to draw out a focus on Himself. That is the faith. The faith is in that coming. The faith is in that continual request. Faith is not a mental gymnastics you do on the inside.

When the Bible talks about faith, it says, “Now without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who approaches God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). The diligence in seeking Him is not discouraged. It is not discouraged that you seek Him. It is not discouraged that you ask for the same thing again and again. You are welcome.

Look at this widow, who had everything going against her. Things were not in her favor societally. The judicial system she wanted to lean on was not in her favor either. How would helping a widow help the political career of the judge? It would not. Helping the widow adds nothing to the judge. The widow did not have the right connections that the judge could use to step up to another level. The widow had nothing to give to the judge. He had no fear of God and no regard for people. He was self‑contained: “I don’t care about you.”

This is the scenario that Jesus brings forth to highlight dependence on God.

Let’s not try to figure out, “How am I going to ‘bribe’ God? Let me do this vow. Let me give this. Let me sing and sing. Let me clap and clap.” No. Just pray. Open your mouth and pray, and keep coming to God. It is encouraged. It is highlighted as something commendable here.

Remember, I am talking about the value of repetition. That is what we see here: there was a repetition that was commended by God. Verse 7: “Won’t God give justice to His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night?” Someone might say, “He knows what I need.” Fine—you are His chosen one. But here, Jesus is highlighting the need for you to keep calling on Him, day and night.

I am concerned about this strain of teaching that tells you that you should just ask once and then start “confessing.” Where do we see that in the Bible?

God bless you. See you later.