Luke 18:7

“And shall not God give justice to (avenge, deal justly with the case of) his elect, who cry to him day and night, and he is longsuffering over them (or ‘even though he wait a long time over them?') ”

Thus, says Jesus, ‘if even an unrighteous judge gives way before continual pleading, how much more we can be certain that God, the supremely righteous Judge, will listen to the voice, not of one who is just an unknown woman, but of those whom He has chosen Who are personally known to Him, when they cry to Him day and night.' He may seem to delay, like the judge did. He may indeed wait for what seems to us a long time (another hint that the end will not come as soon as many expected). But of one thing we can be sure, justice will come. God's way, which is what should be the great desire of His people, will triumph, and His people will prosper and be blessed.

Note that Jesus' description of God's people as His elect comes regularly in relation to the second coming (Mark 13:20; Mark 13:22; Mark 13:27; Matthew 22:14; Matthew 24:31). The direction of our prayers as ‘the elect' are therefore to be seen as having that in mind.

‘Day and night.' Compare Luke 2:37. It is a picture of persistent prayer.

‘And He is longsuffering over them', or ‘even though He wait a long time over them.' Either is a possible translation. The verb can mean ‘to wait patiently' (James 5:7), ‘to be dilatory or slow', or ‘to be forbearing/longsuffering' (Matthew 18:26; Matthew 18:29; 1Co 13:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; 2 Peter 3:9). We may see in it here a combination of the first and the third senses. It includes the thought of delaying in order to give people time to repent because He is longsuffering, and delaying in order finally to complete what He has purposed, because nothing short of whay He has purposed will do. He will not be satisfied until every one of His own is gathered in. The Shepherd is still busy. Other suggested translations are, ‘Is He slow to help them?' (signifying, of course, that He is not), or, ‘Is He not patient with them?' (signifying that He never gets tired of hearing the prayers of His children).