'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.'
It isn't that God is stingy or selfish. But it is a reality that to us he does sometimes feel disinterested and distant. We may come to feel as though we are inconveniencing God or bothering him with things with which he is not concerned, just as the man in the story would have felt guilty about bothering his friend at midnight. For him, his request seemed to be too late and of ultimately too little importance to merit a response. But if the man gave up because he was concerned about inconveniencing his friend he would have left unable to feed his guest. If he was willing to be persistent to the point of annoyance, and of making himself inconvenient for the sake of his guest, his friend would most likely concede eventually.
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
We can't actually annoy God into doing anything. He observes our attempts with perfect patience. He desires us to persist in prayer but he knows how this can feel to us, since a normal human would in fact be annoyed. Jesus is therefore encouraging us to be willing to feel as though we are making a nuisance of ourselves by the constant continuation of our prayers. In a way, it may even be a good sign that we are praying closer to the frequency that we ought when it feels to us like too much. Nor is it a problem to continue when the answer seems unlikely from our earthly point of view. Even if the door seems locked already and the hour seems too late Jesus assures us that this is not necessarily so.
Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you (see Matthew 7:7, Amplified Bible).
The point of persistence in prayer is not that we ask until God is finally convinced. It is closer to the point to say that God waits on our asking until we finally convince ourselves. At such times we are allowing our desires for the good things God promises to mold and shape us. This typically takes more than mere moments. But the results are always worth it. If the person in the story Jesus told kept on asking he would certainly have received the three loaves he requested. And as we keep on asking in our own prayer our desires will be refined and purified in order to want and welcome the Holy Spirit whom the Father longs to give us.
Relient K - For The Moments I Feel Faint
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