The Big Ask

Do you ever ask for a favor? Is it hard to do? Depending on the situation and your relationship with the person you ask, it can be a test of the friendship or a test of your confidence. 

Let’s see – asking for a favor can go several different ways. The person can readily agree, but then not follow through. They could potentially reject your request and leave you in the lurch.  Or perhaps they are glad to do it and even inconvenience themselves in the process. Which of these options were you hoping for? 

Jesus used this complex human scenario to teach his disciples about prayer. Actually, he wasn’t so much teaching them about how to pray as teaching them about the character and motivation of their God. Back in Jesus’ day, people didn’t have any concept of God being like a father. He was ruler and they were subjects. He created a spiritual earthquake when he told them to pray “Our Father in heaven.” They didn’t get it. 

But many of us today don’t get it either.  That’s why when Jesus’ teaching on prayer is interpreted in our churches, God ends up getting a bad rap.  I’m talking about Luke 11 and Matthew 7 where Jesus told a story about a sleepy man who didn’t want to get up and provide bread for his friend who came knocking at midnight.  We actually think that God is the uncaring friend!  That’s why he has to be coaxed and begged to fulfill the requests brought to him. So, taking the parable wrongly, we proceed to “Ask, seek, and knock” on heaven’s door, hoping to bother God enough to get what we want or need. What a sad reflection on the heart of God!  Is that what Jesus was actually teaching? 

I don’t think so.  His very next words were a question meant to touch on their deepest human motivation: “Are any of you parents?”  I imagine the fathers and mothers in that group were thinking about their own children back home. What would they want to give them?  What labors would they not endure to get them everything they needed? The scene in the parable has now shifted – no longer is it focused on a grumpy friend, but on a loving father. And God is that Father. The best of fathers.  For he has even more love toward you than you have toward your own children. 

That is why we can ask, seek, and knock with great confidence – because he loves us more than any human parent, and we are sure to get what we need.  Ask with confidence, and you will receive.

Your Father loves you.

 

Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. …” Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him.  ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. [Luke 11:2-8]

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. [Mat. 7:7-11]