We ought to Pray Persistently and not Lose Heart for God to Avenge us and Vindicate Himself

While Satan, our opponent, is persecuting us and opposing us, it seems that our God is like the unrighteous judge in Luke 18, for He allows us to be unrighteously persecuted; however, we out to pray persistently to be avenged by God and should not lose heart.

In the book of Esther, we see a God who hides Himself; He is there, very present and real and at work, but He hides Himself, and He is not easily seen.

The name of God is not even mentioned in this book, even though we can see how He moves behind the scenes to arrange things for the salvation of His people who were suffering.

Truly amazing. It is not a series of coincidences that led to the Jewish people being spared the wrath of the evil leader in that country but it was God Himself who was operating and moving behind the scenes to save His people.

Our God, the omnipotent God who created all things and who holds all things by the word of His power, is a hidden God.

He is not working in an ostentatious way, nor is He showy; yes, He does want to gain us and be expressed through us, but He is hidden, concealed.

This fact is a great test to us as Christians, the spiritual people of God in the New Testament age, for we believe into Someone we have never seen, we love Someone whom we have never touched or met, and we serve Someone who seems to always hide Himself.

Even more, because we love and serve the true and living God, the whole world is against us.

Those around us persecute us, and Satan does his best to oppose us, accuse us, deceive us, and persecute us through people who cooperate with him.

We are like the widow in Luke 18, who has an opponent who causes her harm, and she wants to find justice.

So she goes to the judge in that city who, apparently, did not fear God nor did he regard man.

She presents her case to him, but he won’t listen. She asks him to make justice for her and avenge her, but he won’t listen to her case.

He is an unrighteous judge.

But she persists; she comes day by day to plead her case and to remind the judge to avenge her.

So the judge, though he doesn’t seem to fear God or man, decides that he will avenge her, lest by continually coming to him, she would wear him out.

Our Lord is our Husband, but He is not here with us; in a sense, we are like a widow in the present age because our Husband, Christ, is absent from us.

As the opponent persecutes us, does many injustices, opposes us, and tries his best to deceive us and wear us out so that we don’t serve the Lord and we leave the enjoyment of Christ, we come to the Lord with our case.

We believers in Christ have an opponent, Satan the devil, concerning whom we need God’s avenging.

We need to pray persistently for this avenging and should not lose heart!

While our Opponent is Persecuting us, it seems that our God is an Unrighteous Judge, for He allows His Children to be Unrighteously Persecuted

God is righteous, just, caring, tender, and full of love.

When we come to Him in His word, when we pray to contact Him, and when we open to enjoy Him and fellowship with Him, He really is so wonderful to us.

However, in the matter of us bringing the opponent’s persecution, opposition, and accusation, the Lord seems to be an unrighteous Judge.

While our opponent is persecuting us, it seems that our God is not righteous, for He allows us, His children, to be unrighteously persecuted (1 Pet. 2:20; 3:14, 17; 4:13-16, 19).

We have trials, we suffer without any cause, and the enemy seems to persecute us and oppose us at every stage and in every respect.

Even the COVID-19 pandemic, though has affected the whole world, it was a full frontal attack of the enemy upon the church to discourage the saints, limit the fellowship, and isolate them from the fellowship of the Body of Christ.

Outwardly many things happened, much injustice was done, and the society has suffered much.

However, Satan used this pandemic to further attack the saints of God, wearing them out, distracting them from the enjoyment of Christ, and causing them to abandon their assembly together.

In Peter, we are told that, if we suffer because of righteousness, we are blessed, for inasmuch we share in the sufferings of Christ, we will also rejoice exultingly at the revelation of His glory.

If we are reproached in the name of Christ, we’re blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us. Amen!

Throughout the centuries, thousands upon thousands of honest and faithful followers of the Lord Jesus have suffered unrighteous persecution, and even today many are undergoing unrighteous treatment (Rev. 2:8-10).

We may live in a country where Christians are not persecuted and we may hear that in other countries genuine Christians are being persecuted, hunted, imprisoned, and even killed because of their faith in Christ.

Even in a country that declares itself Christian, real believers in Christ are being persecuted, for the whole world is slowly but surely turning against God and the people of God.

There are many believers who simply lose their faith because they pray that God would avenge them but He seems to be silent.

We may pray that God would deliver us from our oppressor and avenge us, but He seems to be like the unrighteous judge, apparently not listening or caring. Oh Lord Jesus!

There are many dear believers in Christ in certain countries that are under persecution, oppression, and even in prison; they pray and we pray that the Lord would avenge them.

He is the righteous Judge who will judge the whole earth, but this will take place at His second coming; until then, we pray that He would avenge us and deliver us from the evil one.

God seems to be an unrighteous Judge, for He doesn’t seem to listen to the desperate cry from His people.

Yet He is very active: He’s in each one of us, He is hidden yet not far away from us, and He operates in us.

We will one day realize that, though He seems not to do anything to avenge us, He still is in us, with us, and He is operating in us and around us.

So we will simply ask Him that His will be done in us. Our God seems to be unjust since He doesn’t come in to judge or vindicate.

Because of this situation, the Lord Jesus used an unjust judge to signify God, who doesn’t seem to do anything on behalf of His persecuted people (see Luke 18:2-6).

May we keep coming to Him with our case and may we keep praying persistently until He will avenge us!

Lord Jesus, we love You and we trust in You! You are our Lord, our Savior, our life, and our everything. We love to enjoy You and partake of all Your riches. Oh Lord, we bring to You all the situations and things that are happening to us. You see how our opponent, Satan the devil, is persecuting us and oppressing us. Lord, You see how the opponent is working to wear us out, deceive us, and cause us to be distracted from the enjoyment of Christ. We come to You with our case again and again, Lord: avenge us! Avenge Your people and vindicate us and Yourself! We believe into You, and we put our faith and trust in You! We believe that, though You are hidden and seemingly not doing anything to avenge us, You are working and operating, and one day You will return to avenge us! Keep us praying and praying and praying until You will avenge us and vindicate Yourself!

We ought to Pray Persistently and not Lose Heart for God to Avenge us and Vindicate Himself!

In Luke 18 the Lord Jesus gave a parable showing us that we ought to pray persistently for God to avenge us and we should not lose heart.

The widow in the parable kept coming to the unrighteous judge and asking him to avenge her of her opponent (Luke 18:1, 3).

We need to learn from her and pray persistently for this avenging, and we should not lose heart.

We may wonder where is the living, righteous God, and why does He tolerate this situation.

We may ask the Lord why would He not judge those who persecute us, and why won’t He stop this situation from happening, for God’s people suffer so much.

We suffer mistreatment and unrighteous persecution, and when we bring this to the Lord again and again, He doesn’t seem to do anything about it.

The more we pray that He would vindicate us, the church, and His name, the less vindication there seems to be.

We want results – we want something to happen; on His side, He seems to be an unrighteous Judge who apparently doesn’t care or listen. Oh Lord!

What we need to learn is not to look for results or be desperate for the Lord to DO something for us but that we would pray persistently and not lose heart!

Often our own children, the children of the ones who are faithful followers of the Lord, ask us why do we suffer persecution, and why are we mistreated since we love the Lord so much.

We seem to go the way of the Lord, meet with the saints and learn to live Christ in the church life, but the world persecutes us, speaks evil of us, and puts us down; why does this happen?

It seems to the children of those who follow Jesus that the Lord whom their parents follow is not righteous.

Our Husband, our dear Lord Jesus Christ whom we love and to whom we’re betrothed to be married, is not here with us; He’s apparently absent, and we are left here suffering at the hand of our opponent. Oh Lord Jesus!

Look at the early followers of the Lord: John the Baptist was beheaded, Peter was imprisoned multiple times and was martyred, Paul was imprisoned and then martyred, James was killed by Herod, John was exiled, and many others were persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death.

Even today many of our brothers and sisters are being put to death, imprisoned, and persecuted because of their faith in Christ.

Where is our God, the righteous Judge? Why doesn’t He come in to judge and vindicate and avenge?

Even we ourselves, as we learn to follow the Lord and enjoy Him, meet with the saints and open our homes for the church meetings, we experience so much opposition, frustration, and persecution both from the world and from our fellow Christians.

Even our own family persecutes us and opposes us. We ought to pray persistently for God to avenge us and we should not lose heart.

Will not God, by all means, carry out the avenging of His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, though He is long-suffering over them?

He will definitely carry out their avenging quickly.

Temporarily our God seems to be an unrighteous judge, but He in us empowers us to face all these things and, when He returns, He will avenge us quickly.

Though we may remind God that He is almighty and we may ask Him to deal with His enemy, He seems to be silent and take no action.

But the hidden God is taking care of us thoroughly right now, and we simply ought to pray persistently and not lose heart.

Although He appears to be unrighteous – He only appears to be unrighteous – we must still appeal to Him, pray persistently, and bother Him again and again, for He will carry out quickly the avenging of His chosen ones who cry to Him day and night (Luke 18:7-8).

Lord Jesus, we appeal to You concerning our case. Make justice for us. Deliver us of our opponent and avenge us of our enemy. How long will You tolerate this situation, Lord? How long will You not judge those who persecute Your people? We love You, Lord, and we are joined to You in spirit; we pray one with You and with the saints who are suffering, Come in, Lord, and avenge us of our opponent! We cry to You day and night, come in and vindicate Yourself and Your people! Keep us praying persistently without losing heart. Amen, Lord, though You seem to be an unrighteous Judge, for You don’t seem to do anything about the persecution and opposition we are facing, we keep coming to You! Praying is up to us, not up to You; You charged us to pray, so here we are, Lord, we are praying for Your vindication! Amen, Lord, look at what our opponent is doing both outside and inside of us. We appeal to You. We want to pray persistently, day and night, and bother You again and again until You return and avenge us and vindicate Yourself!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Luke, pp. 350-352 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (2022 winter training), week 12, entitled, A God who Hides Himself – the Hidden God.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – The Ministry of the Man-Savior in His Human Virtues with His Divine Attributes from Galilee to Jerusalem (18) – listen to Radio broadcast 38 via Amana Trust online.
  – Life-study of Luke, msg. 40, by Witness Lee, opens up this matter more broadly.
  – Listen to the LSM radio broadcast – via LSM Radio, to find out more.
  – Praying Persistently with God as Our Faith, a portion via, Church in Regina.
  – Three Testimonies from Alhambra, via, Living to Him.
  – Practical Points on Bible Reading and Reading for the Central Line, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – The Church has waited long, / Her absent Lord to see, / And still in loneliness she waits, / A friendless stranger she. / Age after age has gone, / Sun after sun has set, / And still in weeds of widowhood, / She weeps a mourner yet. / Saint after saint on earth / Has lived, and loved, and died; / And as they left us one by one, / We laid them side by side; / We laid them down to sleep, / But not in hope forlorn; / We laid them but to ripen there, / Till the last glorious morn. (Hymns #961 stanzas 1-2)
  – Praying always in the spirit, / Even groaning from within, / Thus we utter God’s intention / By the Spirit’s discipline. / Praying always in the spirit, / In the holiest place divine; / It is only in the spirit / God and we in oneness twine. (Hymns #780 stanzas 4-5)
  – Oh, what long, sad years have gone, / Since Thy Church was taught this prayer; / Oh, what eyes have watched and wept / For the dawning everywhere. / Break, triumphant day of God! / Break at last our hearts to cheer; / Throbbing souls and holy songs / Wait to hail Thy dawning here. (Hymns #795 stanzas 4-5)