in a
flood of light on Satan's relation to prayer in one of His prayer
parables. There are two parables dealing distinctively with prayer: "the
friend at midnight,"[26] and "the unjust judge."[27] The second of these
deals directly with this Satan phase of prayer. It is Luke through whom we
learn most of Jesus' own praying who preserves for us this remarkable
prayer picture.

It comes along towards the end. The swing has been made from plain talking
to the less direct, parable-form of teaching. The issue with the national
leaders has reached its acutest stage. The culmination of their hatred,
short of the cross, found vent in charging Him with being inspired by the
spirit of Satan. He felt their charge keenly and answered it directly and
fully. His parable of the strong man being bound before his house can be
rifled comes in here. _They_ had no question as to what that meant. That
is the setting of this prayer parable. The setting is a partial
interpretation. Let us look at this parable rather closely, for it is full
of help for those who would become skilled in helping God win His world
back home again.

Jesus seems so eager that they shall not miss the meaning here that He
departs from His usual habit and says plainly what this parable is meant
to teach:--"that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." The great
essential, He says, is _prayer_. The great essential in prayer is
_persistence_. The temptation in prayer is that one may lose heart, and
give up, or give in. "Not-to-faint" tells how keen the contest is.

There are three persons in the parable; a judge, a widow, and an
adversary. The judge is utterly selfish, unjust, godless, and reckless of
anybody's opinion. The worst sort of man, indeed, the last sort of man to
be a judge. Inferentially he knows that the right of the case before him
is with the widow. The widow--well, she is a _widow_. Can more be said to
make the thing vivid and pathetic! A very picture of friendlessness and
helplessness is a widow. A woman needs a friend. This woman has lost her
nearest, dearest friend; her protector. She is alone. There is an
adversary, an opponent at law, who has unrighteously or illegally gotten
an advantage over the widow and is ruthlessly pushing her to the wall. She
is seeking to get the judge to join with her against her adversary. Her
urgent, oft repeated request is, "avenge me of mine adversary." That is
Jesus' pictorial illustration of persistent prayer.