“And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;” Luke 11:5-6 NKJV
Reflection: how many times should we bring our requests before God before giving up?
Yesterday we looked at the need to speak, to say the Lord’s Prayer. He told us to, so we should do that in obedience to his command. And today, Jesus is teaching us a second prayer principle – persistence. And he is giving this kind of strange example of a friend who needs help, and comes knocking on the door late at night. But we know that Jesus doesn’t just pick stories “randomly”; he has a reason. While we have to be careful with any direct correlation, perhaps there are some lessons we can learn from it.
The first thing we notice is that the story is between two friends. I like this image a lot, because what Jesus is telling us here is about the relationship, the friendship we have with our Heavenly Father. Jesus himself said “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13 NKJV. And we might even be reminded of the song “What a friend we have in Jesus”. He is our friend indeed, our brother and our Lord. He says we can come to Him, in confidence, as a friend would.
The second thing we see from the story is the timing. It is late in the hour. Nighttime, in fact. Everything is closed. There are no other way for this person, this friend, to get the bread he needs. The market is closed, and it is too late for the friend to start baking the bread. How often don’t we think it is too late to pray for something? But Jesus is saying here that it is never too late to come knocking on the door, pleading our case. Asking for help.
The third thing is that the whole reason why this friend is there knocking late at night is that he got a surprise visit, from another friend of his. Something he had not planned for. And, here again, Jesus is telling us that unplanned things will happen in life; some good and some more challenging. We all know that. But this is also the beauty of friendships. We are there for each other when needed.
Lastly, Jesus makes a last point that even if their friendship isn’t perfect, that persistence pays off. Let’s read what he said “and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” Luke 11:7-8 NKJV.
We are that friend.
And sometimes we too need some help. Perhaps a last minute surprise we were not planning on, and we have exhausted all other resources. And Jesus is telling us clearly here to come to Him, our Lord, even if the hour is late. And, to be persistent, not to give up. He then goes on, saying
““So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9 NKJV which all speak of prayer persistence.
Be encouraged today, to be persistent in your prayers, to “pray without ceasing,” I Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV