The parable told to us about the unjust judge is a very witty move by Jesus. Is it not a living illustration of human ideas about the mechanism by which God makes decisions? We, small and weak, yell and cry out, and only because of our persistence does something happen. This picture looks so absurd, especially when we are asking something of God, Who is merciful, that one wants to laugh and stop doing it.

Whatever may be going on in our heads, God still will not abandon us and will come to help. He will come, but will He find faith where people are calling Him for help? It can happen that such ideas about God replace what we know about Him from Scripture, what we have been taught.

When people need something, they persistently beg for what they lack for happiness. And the Lord, it would seem, encourages us to call on Him persistently for help. How often, when we do this, we think of God as a great taker of bribes, acting on the principle: "we give to Him, He gives to us." But He, giving us what is for our good, will never give us what is harmful. Because He is unbending, He is whole, He is incorruptible. These qualities of His are described in the book of Wisdom: "...Your almighty word like a stern warrior. It carried a sharp sword." In this sense, being with Him is like walking on the edge of a razor that cuts away from us everything dangerous to us.

In every age people ask this question: does God protect His chosen ones? If so, why do good people die, and if not, then where is His love? Such questions sound especially often after terrible catastrophes. Indeed, even if we have already understood that it is not God who brings these horrors, that all this is the consequence of sin, either directly or indirectly (as in the case of natural disasters: "the whole creation groans and suffers together until now" Rom. 8:22), the question of protection still remains.

Jesus does not give a direct answer, but He points to the right direction for reflection: "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" In order for God to give His protection, we need to trust Him; we need to entrust our life completely into His hands. Have we done this when asking for protection, or are we still counting on His help, but on our terms? For example, have we accepted His view of what human life is, or do we inwardly insist on our own understanding of it as, first of all, physical life? And it is on this above all that what God's protection consists of depends.