Listen

The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”

Luke 18:6-8

Think

Sometimes it can feel like God just isn’t acting quickly enough. It’s hard to wait and wonder when the world will change enough so that the wolf will live with the lamb (Isaiah 11:6) or the sword will be turned into a plowshare (Isaiah 2:4). How long must we wait for justice? How long must we wait for peace? And why, exactly, are we waiting?

The parable of the unjust judge can be an invitation to move our hands, feet, and voices in the work of justice whenever we feel the restlessness of waiting! The persistent widow keeps showing up – no matter how many times it takes – until the judge finally grants her request and her cry for justice becomes a reality.

Justice matters to God. When justice seems slow to come and losing heart seems really easy, perhaps the hardest and holiest thing we can do is to keep knocking. Keep petitioning. Keep seeking justice and listening to those who are crying out. Keep showing up.

Katie Strednak Siner

Pray

Sustainer God, you teach us again and again what it means to be persistent – in prayer, in practice, and in shifts of perspective. Help me to see the world as you see it, and guide me in creating with you a world centered on love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Amen.

Go

No matter what you are wrestling with today, remember that God goes with you along the way. Together with God, you can make it through hard things!

God has said:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Isaiah 43:2