November 24

Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. — Luke 18:1

We are all in danger of growing careless in the matter of prayer. Many people never pray at all. Even many of those who say prayers regularly do not pray. As the flowers and plants on the earth need sunshine and rain from the heavens, so human lives need the benediction of God’s love and grace continually.

The special lesson in prayer taught here is earnestness, importunity. We ought always to pray, and not to faint – that is, we should never get discouraged in our praying. Some people, after pleading for something for a long time, give it up just when God is about to send the answer.

It seems strange to have this unjust judge taken as an illustration of God, in any sense, or to have the judge’s selfish acts used to show us how we can win blessings from God. But the meaning is, that if an unjust judge can be so influenced by persistent pleading, much more will the kind, loving Father be influenced by the importunate pleadings of His own needy children.