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possess. (13) And the publican, stand ing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,. God, be merciful to m e a sinner. (14) I tell you, this m an w ent down to his house justified rath er th an the other: for every one th a t exalteth himself shall be abased; and he th a t humbleth himself shall be exalted. th is much tru th abou t “ subjective” praying: God may have to delay the answer to our p ray er un til our desire and our faith are strengthened, and we are brough t into th a t fellowship w ith H im th a t will make it perfectly safe for Him to g ran t us our request. Sometimes our very perseverance in prayer reveals such aspects of our p rayer to us, th a t we stop praying for th a t special th ing because we see it is no t best fo r us to have it. O ftener, however, we stop praying because our prayer is born of a passing fancy, no t of an undeniable desire. In th a t, we are unlike th is widow. 3. The P ray er Answered. Not from any honest desire to do w h at was his duty, b u t wholly from selfishness, th e u n ju st judge did w hat th e widow de sired. The motive of th e judge did not bother h er. She got w hat she wanted, and was satisfied. 4. The Lord’s Application. Some careless teachers say th a t th is parable teaches th a t ju st as th e widow got w hat she w anted from th e u n ju st judge by asking again and again, we can over come God’s unw illingness to g ra n t our requests by our “ continual com ing.” T h at is wrong. Our Lord is teaching not by sim ilarity, b u t by contrast. Read carefully verses 6, 7 and 8. The en couragem ent to pray is based on th is: If an un ju st, unw illing judge can be compelled to g ran t our plea by per severing asking, w h at have we no t a rig h t to expect a loving, heavenly F a th e r to do for us, when we know th a t He is already on our side and only anxious to do for us all th a t He can do, as fast as it is safe for Him to do it? Not His unw illingness, b u t our
selves th a t they were righteous, and despised others: (10) Two men w ent up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. (11) The Pharisee stood and prayed thus w ith himself, God, I .thank thee, th a t I am not as other men are, ex tortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. (12) I fa st twice in the week, I give tith es of all th a t I P ray er Is too large a topic to be handled in th e compass of one Sunday School lesson. The passage of Scripture p rin ted above brings before us some very im po rtan t aspects of prayer. I. The P ra y e r of th e Widow, w . 1-8. Our Lord’s expressed purpose in telling th e parable was to teach “ th a t men ough t always LESSON to pray, and n o t to EXPOSITION fain t,” o r in o th er Jo h n H. H u n ter w o r d s “ persever ance in praying.” 1. P ray Always. There is never a situation where prayer is no t in order. The more perplexing or dangerous affairs may be, th e more need to pray. The more hopeless th e case is, th e more hopeful will be th e outcome if we are driven by its very hopelessness to th e Lord in prayer. The rea l danger in any situ ation is in our th ink ing we can handle it w ithout prayer. No one could help th is widow except th e judge. She knew it and w ent to him. 2. Keep on Praying. I t is not enough to pray once, no m a tte r how earn estly we pray, and th en qu it pray ing. The widow’s business was no t ju st to pray, it w;as to move th e judge to avenge her. “The subjective effect” of p rayer may satisfy some modern folks. They may “ feel so good” when they get th rough praying. T h at did not satisfy th e widow. The judge m ust render judgm ent, before she would be satis fied. H er praying was wholly “ objec tive,” and she kep t on un til she accom plished h er object. We are in g reat danger of getting discouraged and of giving up praying if God does not answer very quickly. There may be
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