Listen up, little ones
Listen for the words pray and cry and justice.
Reading
Luke 18:1-8—Always Pray and Don’t Lose Heart
Optional Reading
Psalm 10:1-11
Keys for kids
- We should always pray.
- We should keep on praying in times of trouble.
- God hears our prayers and will answer.
Questions
- Why are we tempted to give up in our prayers?
- How do we know that God will give justice?
- What should we do when it seems God is hiding/delaying?
Notes
(See Saturday for authors.)
David cries out in Psalm 10, LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide in times of trouble? (Ps 10:1) Here in our reading today, Jesus wants His disciples to always pray and not give up. He wants them to know that God will grant justice to His elect who cry out to Him day and night. He wants them to know that what might seem like delay is not delay (see 2 Pet 3:9).
At times we might feel like David in Psalm 10. At times we might feel like giving up. Jesus says, Keep praying. Always pray. Over and over in the Bible we find this instruction—keep praying. (See Rom 12:12, Eph 6:18, Phi 4:6, Col 4:2, 1 Thes 5:17.)
In Jesus’s parable, He presents a widow with a need for justice and a judge without a care. The widow is persistent in making her case before this judge. But the judge neither fears God nor respects people; his inclination is to ignore the woman’s case. But her persistence in prayer wears him down so he grants her petition.
The encouragement of the parable is NOT to keep praying in hopes that we will finally wear God down. Rather it is to keep praying because we know God hears us and will answer.
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 10a, 65d
Prayer
- Commit yourself in prayer to keep praying.
- Pray for change in you from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.