And He said to them, Who of you shall have a friend, and will come to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine arrived to me from a journey, and I do not have what I may set before him. And answering from within that one may say, “Do not cause me troubles. The door has already been shut, and my children are in bed with me. I cannot rise up to give to you.I say to you, Even if rising up he will not give to him because he is a friend, yet because of his shamelessness, rising up he will give him as many as he needs.”And I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone asking receives, and the one seeking finds, and to the one knocking, it will be opened. ” LITV
Luke 11:5 –10
Before we move on to linking these radical new thoughts, let me mop up some things first. Firstly, doesn’t it make more sense for God the Father to be likened to the person in the house rather than the person outside the house. The focus must surely be on the one inside the house who will respond to requests because of friendship (or if not friendship, then certainly because of the cultural trait of not wanting to lose face, to be shamed for not really being the friend they should have been). Isn’t the point being made related to God? It makes more sense for God to be answering a request than to be asking for help. Will God answer your prayer because you pester Him enough? Surely God is bigger than that! I think there are times when He won’t answer your prayer because you pester Him. It is like the relationship parents have with their children. The number of times a child asks for something, is not the criteria upon which we parents grant their request. No! It is not. “Ask enough times and you’ll get what you want.” There has to be a higher level criteria at work than that. If not, we are all in trouble if God operates the way some parents work with their children. God always has your best interests at heart. Always! He is your loving Heavenly Father.
Don’t forget where we have come from to get to this passage. “Father, give us each day the food we need.”
Remember from Gem 959.
“That which is necessary for existence”.”For the current day”, or “for today”.”For the following day”. I.e. “Tomorrow”Relating to that which pertains “to the Day of the coming Kingdom”.
Do you think there is any one of these needs God won’t take care of? The basics we need to exist, today’s daily food, tomorrow’s daily needs and even what will be needed in the Coming Age? No, He has all of this covered. If YHWH Jireh could provide enough manna the day before the Sabbath to cover the Sabbath as well, why should we worry about anything?
There have been times when God supplied our need for “today” with a box of groceries on the front door step, after an anonymous knock at the door. Other times through a huge bowl of soup brought at the perfect time. Or times when God spoke to Tania in the supermarket and told her, “You will need two packets of that”. Don’t sweat the small stuff. He is perfectly able to supply what you need. YHWH Jireh, will “see to it”. That’s what the name means.
The point of this passage is to drive home to us, the nature and character of the One from Whom we are asking help. You don’t have to worry about Him rejecting you because it is too late at night. God’s not limited by time constraints. You don’t have to worry about the possibility of Him sleeping at the moment you ask for what you need.
He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
Psalm 121:4
Now, that has to be good news. You don’t have to be worried that you asked enough times before He will respond. That is not the point of this passage. Father God will never respond to you simply because of His feelings of shame about what people will say if He doesn’t grant your request. He WILL RESPOND always and only because He is your FATHER and because He is your FRIEND and knows what’s best for you. Besides being your friend, He is the kind of friend who will help no matter what the need or the hour of day or night you come. He is your FRIEND not just at midnight, but whenever you call upon Him.
But there is more good news to follow. We have seen that this passage connects back to the Lord’s Prayer. But let’s see if there is a connection to what follows this. It is clear that we are still talking about prayer. That is why Luke has compiled these elements together in this section. Now look at what follows the segment of the Friend at Midnight.
“And so I tell you, 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.
Luke 11:9-10
Jesus said, “And I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.For everyone asking receives, and the one seeking finds, and to the one knocking, it will be opened.” This could all be thought of as prayer. Ask and it will be given to you . . . For everyone asking receives.” Jesus is still talking about prayer. Similarly, seeking and knocking can also be considered to be related to prayer. Now notice what follows it.
“You fathers—if your children ask [for bread, do you give them a stone? Or if they ask] for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? 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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”
Luke 11:11-13
Many of us view the Bible as an unconnected series of separate little units or segments. But stop and look at how these verses remarkably extend the teaching point of the story of “the friend at midnight“. I will leave you time overnight to look at it for yourself and see if you can harmonise it all together. How do all of these segments fit together? See what you can make of it first. I will address the issue of the unity of it all in the next Gem. Enough now for us to stop here and give you the time to work out the sense and fit of it all.
A friend is a person who listens attentively while you say nothing.
Anon
A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.
Anon
Your friend needs your love the most when they deserve it the least.
Anon
A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.
William Shakespeare
When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.
Jessica (6)