But Will He Find Faith?

Promises. Justice. Fulfillment. The Kingdom.

Each of these things are ours, but often we haven't found the end of it yet. Promises God's made in scripture or in our own relationship with Him about our future. Justice to the nations and in our own life. Fulfillment of desires and passions inside of us. The Kingdom of God being made tangible and fulfilled on earth.

To each of these we haven't found the end. The completion is still beyond today. So we're waiting until tomorrow. What does it look like to wait? What do we do to wait? What's our part?

Most of us know the story of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) (and perhaps sigh or get that gut-wrenching turn in your stomach when you think about it).  The story reads that there's a judge that doesn't fear God or care about people (great choice of occupations for this guy), and there's a widow who keeps coming asking for justice. The judge clearly states I don't fear God or care about you, but because you're so persistent and keep bothering me, I'll give it to you. Jesus then stops the story and ties it into the lesson saying "if this guy will give you justice, how much more do you think my Father will give to those who are persistent."

Ah, yes. And so we've learned the lesson that God is a good judge, and He will surely answer your prayers if you're persistent. So keep asking and "bothering" God with your requests and justice until you have your answer.

But wait...why does he add that last sentence in after He's made His obvious point. v8 "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth." Um... what? Jesus, you missed the point you were just making. Now you're just adding in random stuff... or are you making a bigger point than the title my Bible gave me?

What if the point Jesus is making here isn't to stay persistent and bothering God, but what if it's believing God to fulfill His plans and promises and continuing to bring those before Him saying, "Hey, I still remember this. I'm still counting you in for this. I'm still waiting for this. You said this, remember?"

I know it almost sounds dumb to "remind" God of something, but in the OT we see Abraham (Gen 15:1-7), Moses (Deut 9), and David (Ps 74) all remind God of things He said or did. They took the promises, the character, the will of God and put it in front of God and said, "Hey, remember this?! I haven't forgotten. I'm still expecting this to happen. I'm still waiting and planning on this... anytime now would be good." And I believe that is the type of "faith" the Son of Man is looking for when He comes back. I'm not sure He's looking for people who are hanging on/buckling down/white knuckling it trying to get through and move beyond to the after life. Here in Luke, Jesus is inviting us to continue to take justice, promises, these unfulfilled things back before God and say, "Ok, so you said this. I haven't forgotten. I'm still planning and waiting for it. My family aren't all believers yet. My eyesight isn't fully healed yet. My wife is still MIA. The tuition for school hasn't made it into my account yet. Cancer is still killing people. Women are still being sex trafficked. I haven't forgotten. You remember this promises, these issues we're working on. I'm still here, still waiting, still planning for them to come through. I'm doing my part down here, but I'm reminding you of your promises." 

It's this kind of faith that God is looking for. Faith that doesn't survive but faith that knows the very heart and character of God as to stand firm waiting for justice and promises to come through despite the situation. I'm still counting You good for it and waiting for it.

So my charge to you would be to sit and remember promises, justice issues, or unfulfilled things in your life and put them before God. Take 5-10 min just to remind God and yourself of these things and pray them more into being. God's looking for partnerships not handouts.

(Footnote: People may argue that the passage refers to justice and not promises of God.  Numbers 23:19 "God isn't a man that he would lie, or a human being that he would change his mind. Has he ever spoken and not done it, or promised and not fulfilled it.?" God keeping His promises is justice. It would be unjust of Him to not keep His promise.