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Luke 11:5–10
“I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (vv. 9–10).
Having instructed His disciples in how to pray (Luke 11:1–4), Jesus now turns to proper attitude in prayer. Our Lord does this by telling a parable and then teaching the disciples not to give up after one or two prayers but to keep interceding.
Jesus describes a situation in which a visitor arrives at the house of a friend. In that culture, providing hospitality was an important social custom, and to not be hospitable was a grave error. The friend understands that he must attend to his visitor’s needs, and that will require not only giving the visitor lodging but also providing three loaves of bread, which was the customary amount of food in those days to meet the needs of visitors. It is midnight, however, and the man who needs to show hospitality has nothing to offer. This reflects first-century Palestine, where there was no refrigeration and thus food was prepared as needed, with no leftovers.
To get food for the visitor, the man does something brash. He goes to another friend’s house and asks to borrow three loaves of bread. Most houses back then were one-room structures, so there was no way to wake up the friend without also waking up the friend’s family, as is reflected in the parable (Luke 11:5–7). The man is bold indeed, and Jesus makes the point that the friend will meet the man’s request because of “his impudence” (Luke 11:8). Jesus’ point is that in prayer we are to be like the man who boldly pounded on the door in the middle of the night. We are to ask God with a respectful boldness that is not afraid that we might be “inconveniencing” the Lord. Because God is our loving heavenly Father (Luke 11:11–13), He wants us who know Christ to pray bold prayers.
Boldness in prayer is to be coupled with perseverance in prayer. We see this in our Lord’s teaching in Luke 11:9–10 to ask, seek, and knock. Jesus says that those who do this receive from God, with the implication that Christians who do not receive from God may not be receiving because they are not continuing to pray (see James 4:2). Essentially, Jesus wants us to understand the importance of persistence in prayer, to not give up praying for something too quickly. Of course, continual prayer does not absolutely guarantee that we will receive what we ask. God gives us only what accords with His will (1 John 5:14). Nevertheless, we are to keep on praying, trusting the Lord to work His will in our lives and in the lives of others.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Ultimately, there is no such thing as unanswered prayer. When we pray, God will respond with a yes or no, or He will encourage us to wait by not giving a yes or no immediately. If He has not answered with a yes or no, it means that we can keep on praying with respectful boldness, knowing that He wants to hear from us and that if we do not ask, we may not receive (James 4:2).
for further study
- Genesis 25:19–26
- Nehemiah 1:4
- Matthew 7:7–8
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17
the bible in a year
- 2 Chronicles 16–18
- John 15:1–17