Luke_11
Scripture
Luke 11:5-8
“Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”
Observation-What does it say?
At this point in the book of Luke, Jesus is starting to develop some of the finer points of what it means to be a disciple with those closest to him. He has already chosen the twelve apostles, and sent out the seventy disciples on a healing ministry. Here, one of the disciples asked Jesus to teach him how to pray. Jesus leads in with the Lord’s prayer. He then dives deeper into the matter by discussing some of heart issues we deal with when we pray. He shows us, through examples of bread and fish, of where our faith is to be when we bring our requests to Him.
Understanding-What does it mean?
Matthias, my youngest, loves to eat snacks. We can’t get him to eat a full meal without strapping him down to his seat (I’m not even kidding, he’s almost four and still gets buckled to his booster). We struggle to get him to eat more than a few bites of breakfast, lunch and dinner. He will claim that he is full and that he doesn’t want to eat anymore, but as soon as the buckles come off he will run into the pantry and grab a snack. He then shoves it in Jen’s or my face and begins to pester us with the requests, “Can I have this?” All the while there is still soggy cereal in the bowl on the table, which he refuses to eat. “Can I have this?” He isn’t dressed yet, hasn’t brushed his teeth. “Can I have this?” Now we are running late to get the other boys to school. “Can I have this?” And as we are frantically finding backpacks, water bottles, homework folders, and sweatshirts, “Can I have this?” All of the sudden I snatch the granola bar from his little hand, violently rip the plastic wrapper open, hand it to him as I scoop him up and throw him (also a little violently) into the stroller, and scream, “YES! Just get in the stroller, we have to go.” The little guy wins almost every time.
Thankfully, God never loses his cool like I do. Since God is all knowing (omniscient) and out side of time (omnipresent), he never has a need to worry or get impatient. He has the time to listen to our desires and the wisdom to know the right time to give them to us. I think in this passage Jesus is trying to teach us a few things about our motives and about our stress.
When I worry about something, God tells me to bring it to him, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6) The more I learn to bring my desires and cares to him the less I will worry about them. Also the more I come to Jesus with my desires and worries, it seems that my worries go away and my desires start to line up more with His will. In the book of James, we are taught that God is jealous for us, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?” (James 4:3-5)
Life Application
Jesus, teach me to pray as you would. I want to see my life through your lens. I want my time to be spent where you want it spent and my money spent where you want it spent. And when I have a desire, help me to bring it to you until I know that the answer lines up with your will.
-Tyler Galloway