the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
Luke 18:1-17
The parable of the widow and the unjust judge encourages us to pray persistently (Romans 12:12; Colossians 4:2). Indeed, if a wicked man at last is moved to pity, by how much more will the God of love intervene to deliver "His elect". He sometimes holds back from doing so, because the fruit He is waiting for is not ripe, but let us not forget that He constrains Himself to patience when His love would move Him to immediate action (v. 7). There will come a time, that of the final tribulation, when this passage will assume its full impact for the elect of the Jewish nation.
The self-important Pharisee who presents his own righteousness to God, and the publican who keeps his distance, deeply convicted of sin, are in a moral sense the respective descendants of Cain and Abel (except that Abel knew himself to be justified). The only title which gives us the right to approach God is that of sinner. It is humiliating for man to have to lay aside his works (v. 11) and at the same time his reasonings, wisdom and experience. But the divine truths of the kingdom can only be grasped by simple faith, for which the trust of the little child provides so touching a picture. When the Lord comes, will He find such faith in us? (v. 8).
