March 17, 2016: Don’t Give Up

Luke 18:1-8

“And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?” (v. 7)

At day’s end a salesman was finally admitted to see the boss, and he proceeded to make a big sale. “Consider yourself lucky,” said the boss. “Five salesmen tried to meet with me today, and I refused to see them.” With tireless enthusiasm the salesman smiled and said: “I know. I am them!” Persistence pays off.

The widow persists, sustained by a belief that she has been wronged. She refuses to accept injustice, because she knows that there is justice. She refuses to accept wrong, because she knows that there is right. She knows that she is right. She believes that what has been denied to her is also available to her, and the reality of the coming vindication helps her to endure the reality of her present poverty. The widow refuses to be defined by her present circumstances.

Don’t allow your present circumstances to define you. There is a judge who will hear you. Not an unjust judge, like the one in the parable. That judge gave the woman justice, after all, not because he saw the merit of her case but because the woman wore him down. If a scoundrel like that will give the woman justice, how much more will God hear the pleas of his people!

Prayer: Lord, hear my pleas.

Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.