i see your point; as the old saying goes:
'the wise man see how little he knows; the foolish man sees how much he knows'
but i do believe that God is always faithful to do what He says He will do
(Luk 18:1) And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
(Luk 18:2) Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
(Luk 18:3) And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
(Luk 18:4) And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
(Luk 18:5) Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
(Luk 18:6) And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
(Luk 18:7) And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
(Luk 18:8) I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
verse 1 above tells us that the parable that follows is to illustrate 'that men ought always to pray, and not to faint'
to my understanding, there are two types of prayer; the prayer of faith, and the prayer of doubt.
the prayer of faith is based on what God has said (God's Word); so it is also based on God's will.
the prayer of doubt is based on report(s) that conflict with God's Word (His report).
so when i see in Luke 18:7 that in Jesus' parable the elect cry to God day and night, and that God 'bears with them' (as in He's patient and merciful toward them), i see that although the elect He's referring to may have effective faith in many areas of their life, they are not in faith about what they cry to God about day and night, or they would be thanking God instead, and He would be pleased with them, rather than have to 'bear with them'. in this parable, it's likely that the elect who are crying to God represent the Israleites of Jesus day who were crying our to God for deliverance from Roman rule. God had sent His prophets to them to assure them that the day would come when He would deliver them, but they weren't going to believe that until they saw it (they had 'fainted' in their faith), so they cried out day and night to try to get God to move (this is how many pray today as well) - and being merciful to them, He 'bore long with them'. Jesus tells me that God will avenge them speedily, so that's what i believe. even if it takes 2000 years or so for Israel to become a self-ruling nation again, that's still only a couple of days to God (Psalms 90:44, 2Pet 3:8); those in Israel in Jesus' day who would receive spiritual rebirth would live forever; so they could have thanked God day and night instead, even if they didn't see Israel delivered from Rome before their bodies died and they went to be with the Lord.
this is why i added the comment: "God doesn't 'bear long' with the faithful; 'He avenges them speedily' - from God's perspective, this only happened a couple of days ago (Psalms 90:4, 2Pet 3:8)"
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