Few messages are more forcefully taught in the New Testament than the invitation to simply

The Importunate Friend's Petition For A Loan

Few messages are more forcefully taught in the New Testament than the invitation to simply "ask of God." Jesus does not refer to God as an impersonal force in the universe or as some cosmic collection of laws; more than any single title, Jesus chooses to address God as "Father."

In order to dramatize the fact that God is eager to hear from his children, that he will not scold them for asking for his help, Jesus gives the Parable of the Importunate Friend. To importune is to persist in a request, to persevere, to stick with it. The parable is given to encourage His listeners to turn to the Almighty and continue to importune the heavens until the answer to our problems or deliverance from our plight come

This is one of those times in the New Testament in which Jesus teaches by contrast. It is as though He had asked, 'If a frail, mortal being who calls himself your friend will in fact respond to your inconveniencing request (even when he would rather not be bothered), how much more readily will God-who loves His children and delights to assist us in any way He can, respond to our pleadings for divine guidance and strength?'

Truly, if human beings who are plagued by ignorance, limitations and selfishness rush to the aid of their colleagues in need, how much more will a divine Being who is all-wise, all-powerful and completely selfless hasten to bless His children?

Through the parable of the importunate friend at midnight, Jesus’ followers are to learn, by way of contrast, that God will not be irritated by our requests or unwilling to meet them with generosity. Drawn directly from the experience of His contemporaries, Jesus’ parable, no doubt, evoked a sympathetic response, in His listeners who had probably been similarly importuned by a friend. People often traveled by night on the ancient world to avoid the scorching heat of the day, therefore a midnight arrival was not unusual. Nor would it have been unusual to request bread from an already sleeping friend; the demands of hospitality required that the traveler’s needs be graciously met, no matter what the hour. The neighbor’s complaint that he and his family were in bed implied that all would be disturbed if he did as his friend requested. Most Palestinian homes were simple one-roomed dwellings in which the whole family slept. Nevertheless, and despite the disturbance to his family, the man came to the aid of his friend because of his anaideia or persistence; the literal translation of anaideia is shamelessness!

With the assurance that God is greater than every human need, more powerful than any inconvenience and more loving than can be imagined. . . “how much more will God give. . .” , Jesus encourages believers to ask, seek and knock, without doubt or hesitation and, like Abraham and the importunate friend, with utter shamelessness!

Obviously, true prayer never occurs apart from a sense of need, and the first note in the story Jesus tells is one of dire, pressing necessity. Here is a friend who comes after midnight and announces that another friend has arrived on a journey unexpectedly and he simply has nothing in the house to give him. Often others' needs seem more demanding to us than our own needs. I rather suspect that this man would never have gone over in the middle of the night to his friend's house in order to borrow bread to meet his own hunger. He would rather have endured his hunger throughout the night. But when a friend comes on a journey, there is a deep sense of necessity and it is seen in his willingness to go to his neighbor after he knows he has gone to bed and ask him for bread after midnight.

"He may not have any bread, but he certainly has lots of guts, coming after midnight and waking this fellow up out of a sound sleep to get bread!" But it is obvious, as our Lord tells the story with this touch of humor in it (and I think it was intentional), that this man is driven by a deep sense of concern. He simply has nothing to give and this is what brings him over. Is there anything that is quite so apt to bring us to our knees in prayer as the request of another person for our help and the shattering awareness that comes to us that we simply have nothing to give?

Jesus is saying God does not hold out false hopes in prayer; He does not give capriciously, vindictively. He means what He says. You, as an earthly father, would not give in such a manner, neither does God. That is what He is saying. If you sincerely need something, and you are obeying God and know it is certainly within His Will for you to have it--or if you are asking Him to help you succeed in some vital task--then pray for it! (See 1John 5:14-15) Be importunate! Keep insisting that God helps you or gives you what you need, and He will! "Seek and you shall find", and if the Lord doesn't answer your prayers right away, don't give up!, Just keep knocking on Heaven's door with your prayers and "the door will be opened"!