A man once said, “I gave up jogging because it was making the ice in my glass clink too loudly.”
Some of us have the same approach to prayer. We say we want intimacy with God, the kind of life that hears His voice and sees His hand—then we quit too soon because it rattles the ice in our comfort. It stirs us up. It takes too long. And we prefer microwave answers to crockpot wisdom.
But in Luke 18, Jesus tells a story about a woman who didn’t quit. She was a widow. No husband. No lawyer. No leverage. Just a cause, a complaint, and calluses on her knuckles from knocking.
She kept coming to a judge who “neither feared God nor cared what people thought.” In other words, the kind of man who wouldn’t open the door even if the house were on fire—unless it was his own.
And yet… she wore him down. She didn’t charm him, or bribe him, or flatter him. She just kept showing up. Not because she believed in the judge, but because she believed in justice.
Jesus tells us this parable “so that we ought always to pray and not lose heart.” He’s not saying God is like the judge—He’s saying He’s not. God doesn’t delay because He’s cruel, but because He’s crafting something holy in us while we wait.
“Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul…” — Emily Dickinson
Persistent prayer is feathered with hope. It perches in our soul and sings even when the windows are shut, and the winds howl, and no answer has arrived.
The widow’s faith wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t dignified. But it was real. She kept asking not because she was religious—but because she believed something true and refused to let it go.
So, you who are tired…
You who are still praying for the child to come home, the diagnosis to change, the silence to break—
Don’t lose heart.
The door will open.
Prayer: Lord, help me pray like the widow—without giving up, without dressing up, without letting go. I trust You, even in the silence. Give me the kind of faith that knocks until grace answers. Amen.
Closing Thought: The persistent widow was not a hero because she was strong. She was a saint because she stayed.
Pastor Jonte’s sermon this Sunday is going to be insightful you don’t want to miss it!
Your friend for life,
Pastor Tim