Will I Find Faith?

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
(Luke 18:1-8, ESV)
I have pondered over the above parable since I was a youth, hearing people tell me that it meant something that just didn't seem to fit the text. I have often heard it said that Jesus questioned if there would be any believers left on the earth when He returned. Since He is planning on returning “like a thief in the night” I suspect most people will be living their lives as usual, those practicing righteousness continuing to follow the Righteous One, while those given over to evil, continuing in their evil ways. Jesus compared His return to the times before the flood, at which time only eight folks were saved. What is the Master really saying in the above parable? I think it is quite simply this: those even who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will begin to doubt whether or not God will hear their prayers or believe that He will answer those prayers. Prayer requires the praying one to believe the One being prayed to, to trust that He will not refuse His children their
requests. But what are we praying for? Elijah certainly knew what to pray for. He knew what God had told Moses about turning the sky to brass (i.e., no rain would be falling)when the people forsook Him and turned to worship idols. Elijah knew Solomon's prayer after the dedication of the temple, asking God to listen to the people when they forsook Him and He sent drought upon the land. (See I Kings 8:35-36) Elijah believed God and prayed accordingly. That is the prayer of faith.
Our problem is we do not often know God's heart because we have failed to diligently
study His word. Elijah was a man of the Book, as was Jesus, the very Son of God. Those who meditate on the Word of God will grow in faith and will begin to know how to pray. For example, is it right to pray for someone caught up in sin? If we understand Simon, the Samaritan sorcerer, it is something that we should regularly be doing. Simon asked Peter and John to pray for him; Simon was a believer. Those who would relegate Simon to the ashes of hell miss the point: it is right and necessary to ask others to pray for us when we are so caught up in sin that we really don't know how to get back on solid footing with the Lord. God had to send Nathan, the prophet, to help straighten out King David. Did God forgive Simon? I believe that He did, because Simon is in the act of repenting when he asks Peter and John to pray for him.
How about justice for Christians? Are we not God's elect? Have you never been in a
situation where it just seemed that justice would never come? I have, and believe me, it was rather uncomfortable. Something that should have been completed in 30 days took two years to complete. The transaction was held up by deceit and lies and shady negotiations. I even called the district attorney's office to try and get some relief, all to no avail. Finally I literally cried out to the Lord, laying prostrate before Him. After that, the matter was settled within a few days. My stubborn heart must have been faithless in thinking that my Lord would not take time to help me on something that should have been very straightforward and simple. Two years, yet I did get justice. God listened to my prayers.
We are to be like sheep, gentle and docile, willing to be mistreated by the world. On the other hand, our Master Shepherd is at the ready to assist us, to listen to our cries, to help us in any and every situation. Being faithful about asking for His help in small things is what He wants from us. Contrary to opinion, the small stuff is worth sweating over, not by stressing over it, but by spending time in prayer, being faithful in prayer.
A young Japanese Christian man I know is working for a chain of stores that sells clothing. The home office is here in Sapporo. He is being transferred to Tokyo, to take command of a new outlet there, the first in the capital city for this company. I told him that one day he just might make president of the company. He laughed and said that he would just like to be store manager one day. I replied, “Every president must first be the manager of a small store” to which he smiled and agreed. So it is. We must be faithful in prayer about the small things in life, or will Jesus find faith when He returns? Those who choose to live their lives incarnadine will be those who faithfully pray to the Father about as much of life as they can. They will truly want to pray down “thy will on earth as it is in heaven.” Only prayer can change nations, presidents, prime ministers, kings, barbarians
and the course of life itself. God is listening and He wants to find faith, faith in prayer.