So I say to you, 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 (Luke 11:9 from the Amplified Bible).
Jesus is calling us to persistence in prayer. He says that even if it looks like the door has already been locked and God is asleep that we should keep asking. In another parable he tells us that even if the judge seems indifferent to our plight we should keep asking. Our feelings may tell us strongly that there is no point. And God is not like men that he should change his mind. What do we expect this persistence to accomplish?
He delays to give, wishing that you should the more earnestly desire what is delayed, lost by being given at once it should grow common.- Saint Augustine
In the process of persistence we ourselves are the ones who are changed, not God. Among other benefits, we learn the truth of the hierarchy of goods through experience. We cling to our desire for genuine goods, goods which are not now present, in spite of the circumstances that hinders the appearance of those goods and makes our attaining them seem impossible. For example, we continue to believe that the health of a loved one is what should be the case even if the world doesn't seem to hold out much hope for their healing. Because such requests can only be based on our continued belief in the goodness of God we insist on and cling to that goodness in our perseverance. In prayer of this sort we walk by faith and not by site (see Second Corinthians 5:7), trusting in the promises of God. In a way, we are like Abraham who "hoped against hope" when God asked him to offer his only son as a sacrifice (see Romans 4:18)
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
Why do we persist in prayer? Because we need to trust in God more than we do. We still secretly sometimes suspect that he is asleep in bed, that he is a judge with no concern for justice, that he will in fact give us a snake or a scorpion instead of a fish or an egg. In our prayer we ourselves are transformed by our trust in the Father. He in turn answers in a way that far surpasses our limited desires and expectations (see Ephesians 3:20). He is not simply good in the way that we hope and not bad in the way that we fear. He is better in a way that we cannot guess but can receive only by faith.
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?”
We realize from our experiences with prayer that starting in the Spirit and ending in the flesh is a real possibility. Petitionary prayer is easy until the timeline gets long. Jesus assures us that we have every reason to trust even then. The efforts of the flesh are insufficient to the deepest desires of our hearts. In our own lives we have already seen that the only way to the fulfillment of those desires is the Spirit. So let us continue to walk by the Spirit.
After beginning with the Spirit,
are you now ending with the flesh?
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