30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 18 1-8 Persistent prayer of faith 06 Causing the widow’s heart to sing for joy
📖 Luke 18:1-8
02Sep2020 - *Causing the widow’s heart to sing for joy* - _Luke 18:1-8_ - PERSISTENT PRAYER OF FAITH 6 – Bible reading: _Job 29:12-17_
_Luke 18:3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.'_
The widow came to the unjust judge looking for justice for her from her adversary. Yesterday, we contrasted this unjust judge against the Lord God Almighty, in order for us to have a better perspective when we pray.
As we compare ourselves with the widow and come to God for Him to meet our needs, we are conscious as to who He is. _Luke 18:7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?_
_Psalm 9:8 He shall judge the world in righteousness, And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. Psalm 10:17-18 (17) LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, (18) To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more. Psalm 68:5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation._
The judge in the parable did not have a relationship with the widow neither did he want to relate with her cause. Whereas our God loves us and so when we come to Him with our concerns and needs, He corrects us. In the parable, we only see the unjust judge and the widow who needed justice. We do not know anything more about the widow. In reality, the Lord looks intently at us, when we cry to Him.
_Isaiah 1:15-17 When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. (16) "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, (17) Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
We want God to act in our favour but God is looking to see if we have been fair with people. Have we been just and caring toward those around us, who are in need? If we want justice from God, the fair question is, have we been just with people, with whom we relate on an everyday basis?
_Micah 6:6-8 With what shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? (7) Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? (8) He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?_
_Zechariah 7:5-10 “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me? (6) When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? (7) Should you not have obeyed the words which the LORD proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?' " (8) Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, (9) “Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Execute true justice, Show mercy and compassion Everyone to his brother. (10) Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, The alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart Against his brother.'_
This is the clear instruction that the word of God gives us. _Proverbs 31:8-9 Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are appointed to die. (9) Open your mouth, judge righteously, And plead the cause of the poor and needy._
Job was a person, who lived out this life and so he could not understand as to why God was allowing him to go through suffering.
_Job 29:12-17 Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper. (13) The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And *I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy*. (14) I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. (15) I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. (16) I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know. (17) I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth._ This was who Job was, as a person.
*Thought to ponder*
```Are you causing the broken hearts of people around you, to sing for joy? Only then it is fair for you to expect God to hear your plea?```