1  Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

2  He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men.

3  And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, `Grant me justice against my adversary.'

4  "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, `Even though I don't fear God or care about men,

5  yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'"

6  And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says.

7  And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

8  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

How are you to respond when you've prayed for something and God hasn't answered? With this parable, Jesus urges us to keep on praying.

Jesus sets up the comparison between God and this unjust judge to prove a point, and to encourage his listeners. God, the almighty being who knows us from before birth and who cares for us as his own children, is infinitely more inclined to hear and answer us than this judge, who "neither feared God nor cared about man."

God is not like the judge in this parable. He is not, as some religious philosophers have asserted, an uncaring, apathetic entity who sits in his heaven and looks down on us with contempt. Rather, God hears and answers prayer in his time, and his answers are always a part of his master plan for our lives.