My younger son does a lot of things well, but if there’s one thing he does extremely well, it’s his ability to ask… and keep on asking.
Since he was young, persistence has been his strength. And he knows just who to ask. His daddy.
“Daddy, can we go get donuts?”
“Daddy, can you play ball with me?”
“Daddy, can we have cereal for dinner?”
As the years have progressed, so have his requests (apparently donuts aren’t the best thing for a teenage boy desiring abs of steel).
Questions like, “Dad, can I drive your car?” have now become the popular request.
It doesn’t matter that Dad’s car is the sportier more expensive car or that his car is usually reserved for Sunday Church or client lunches. It doesn’t matter that my now fifteen year old son only has his learner’s permit and that he hears the words, “No,” each time he asks to drive Dad’s car…if the opportunity arises, my son will continue to ask.
In Luke 11, Jesus tells the story of another guy (much like my son) with great persistence.
The chapter begins with the disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus gives them an abbreviated version of the Lord’s prayer but then jumps right into this unusual illustration.
‘Suppose it’s midnight and a traveling friend of yours stops by your house super late at night. This friend is hungry but you don’t have any food to offer him. So you go to another friend’s house (most likely your neighbor) and you ask to borrow some food. Now suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. We are all asleep.” But you keep knocking and you keep asking. Finally your sleepy and annoyed friend gets up and gives you what you need.
Jesus tells His disciples, “He will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your SHAMELESS AUDACITY he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”
Another translation says it this way, “Because of his IMPUDENCE he will rise and give him whatever he needs.” Pastor Landon MacDonald explains, “Impudence is an interesting word for Jesus to use in a positive way because it’s not a positive word. Impudence means an unwillingness to be reasonable in asking. It shows a lack of respect for a person’s time.”
It’s like saying, ‘SORRY. NOT SORRY…but I just need this thing and I’m not going away until you give it to me.’
Friends, Jesus is asking us to be unreasonable in asking. In case you think (like I did) that this is an isolated incident, it’s not. Seven chapters later, in Luke 18, Jesus tells another story with the exact same theme. Persistence.
It’s the parable of the really mean and ungodly judge. A widow pleaded with this judge for help. “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘…Because this widow KEEPS BOTHERING ME, I will see that she gets justice..” Jesus closes the parable with these words, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”
I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to wrap my brain around these parables. They mess with my theology…but they also inspire me to do as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, to “Pray without ceasing.”
I wonder if there is something that you need or simply desire but you’ve given up on praying for it. (I know I have a few things on my list). Whatever it is, what if we started praying for those things again today? An unsaved loved one, healing, unity in relationships, direction for a dream God gave you a long time ago. What if, like the friend in the first parable or the widow in the second, we keep asking? What if, like my son, we don’t give up?
Imagine those prayers answered!
By the way, a few weeks ago, my husband sent me the picture posted above and my jaw literally dropped! Either Daddy’s heart was softened or just plain worn out…. or maybe he knew his son was ready.
Daddy finally said “Yes.”
– Binu
