(Today begins week four in our series, “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Changing Culture for the Sake of the World.” This weeks devotions find their heart in the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8)

by Rev Douglas Brauner

Faith grows when we’re desperate for God to act.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Won’t God give his chosen people justice when they cry out to him for help day and night? Is he slow to help them? I can guarantee that he will give them justice quickly. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Luke 18:7 God’s Word to the Nations

Jesus told a parable about a widow who was tenacious in asking an unjust judge to vindicate her. The judge gives in to her request not because of compassion, not because he had a driving need to act justly, but simply because she was bugging him.

Lepaterique, Honduras

Jesus compares this unjust judge to how his heavenly Father works. If a man who doesn’t care about justice will work justice for a widow, because she cries out to him, how much more will our God, who is just, hear us and work justice in our lives. (Jeremiah 9:24)

“But when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth?”

Where did that idea come from? What is the connection between justice and faith?

I have learned a great deal about faith in Honduras.

I am invited to speak at preaching stations around Lepaterique as our team leads activities for the children. Following one of those times, I was asked to pray for people who were struggling with various illnesses and other medical conditions.

I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.

We were in a small house packed with people. Many of them came forward asking me to pray for them. Like the widow in Jesus’ parable, the only place they had to turn was to Jesus. Medical facilities, and doctors, were limited, and this was one of the poorest villages surrounding Lepaterique.

Their faith was evident as they opened themselves up to God’s work in their lives.

There is relationship between faith and desperation. May we be desperate for God that our faith might increase and prayer abound.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado