Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Luke 18:1 NIVAnd will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.
Luke 18:7-8Luke tells us exactly why Jesus told this parable before he even tells us the parable. Always pray. Do not give up. Which means Jesus knew His disciples would be tempted to do exactly that: stop praying because it did not seem to be working.
The parable is about a widow who keeps coming back to an unjust judge asking for justice. The judge does not care about her at all. He does not care about God or people. But she just keeps coming. And eventually he gives her what she needs, not out of kindness, but because she would not stop showing up.
Jesus then turns it around. If even that judge eventually responded, how much more will your Father, who loves you deeply, respond to you?
The widow did not pray beautiful prayers.
We do not know what she said. We just know she kept coming back. She was not eloquent. She probably was not even calm about it. She was persistent. Stubborn, even. She showed up again.
I think we put too much pressure on prayer feeling a certain way. We think it only counts if we feel something, if the words come out right, if there is some sense of connection in it. And when the flat seasons come, we start to wonder if we are doing it wrong.
The widow was not doing it beautifully. She was just doing it.
Showing up is the prayer.
In a flat season, the act of sitting down and saying "I do not have much today, but here I am" is not a lesser form of prayer. It might actually be the truest kind. Because it is not being sustained by feeling. It is being sustained by decision.
You are choosing to believe that the conversation matters even when you cannot feel it mattering. You are choosing to show up for Someone you trust even when the room feels quiet. That is faith. That is the widow at the door.
Keep knocking. Not to earn anything. Just because you know who is on the other side.
Come Back to the Door
Is there something you have stopped praying about because it felt like nothing was happening? Today, go back to that door. You do not need eloquent words. You do not need to feel anything. Just show up. That is enough.
- Have I stopped praying about something because it felt like nothing was happening?
- What would it look like to come back to that door today, not with eloquence, but just with presence?
- What is keeping me from believing that showing up matters even when I do not feel it?
- What would change if I believed that presence itself is the prayer?
- Why do I expect prayer to feel a certain way in order for it to count?
- What would it look like to trust that God hears the knocking even when I cannot hear the answer?
- How is the widow in Luke 18 an example of faith, even without beautiful words?
God, some days I do not have a lot to bring. The words feel thin and the silence on the other end feels long.
But I am here. That is what I have today. I am at the door. And I trust that You hear the knocking even when I cannot hear You answer. Keep me faithful in the flat seasons. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Keep knocking. Not to earn anything. Just because you know who is on the other side.
With love, Claire