THE ANNOYING NEIGHBOR

Luke 11:5-8 - King James Version (KJV)

5And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

 6For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

 7And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

 8I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

 This parable of the friend at midnight affirms that God will answer persistent prayer. We are to understand that the persistence is necessary for our benefit, not for God’s. Jesus is teaching here that along with a sense of urgency and boldness, we must be earnest and wholehearted in prayer.

The parable _

A neighbor knocks on the door, asking for a loaf to feed a friend who has just arrived. The husband is reluctant to be disturbed, since the rest of the family would also be awakened. But when the neighbor persists, he gives him the loaf. So, says Jesus, “if we ask, we shall receive; and if we seek, we shall find” (v. 9).

Jesus did not mean that people will receive everything they ask for in prayer. But his teaching in 11:9-13 reaches its climax in the promise that prayer for the Holy Spirit will be answered in the affirmative. God is more than willing to give us this most important of gifts, if only we ask him.
An answer to prayer may not come immediately.  We, the supplicants are to continue praying earnestly. This will require patience, determination and, at times, a willingness to wrestle with God (remember Jacob) for the desired outcome.

Jesus speaks this parable with the same intent that he speaks that in Luke 18:1: “That men ought always to pray, and not to faint”. Not that God can be wrought upon by importunity; we cannot be troublesome to him, nor by being so change his counsels. We prevail with men by importunity because they are displeased with it, but with God because he is pleased with it. Now this similitude may be of use to us,

Here are some biblical principles: (a.)

[1.] We must come to God with boldness and confidence for what we need, as this man does to the house of his neighbor or friend, who, he knows, loves him, and is inclined to be kind to him.

[2.] We must come for bread, for that which is needful, and which we cannot be without.

[3.] We must come to him by prayer for others as well as for ourselves. This man did not come for bread for himself, but for his friend. We cannot come to God upon a more gratifying errand than when we come to him for grace to enable us to do good, to feed many with our lips, to entertain and edify those that come to us.

[4.] We may come with the more boldness to God in a situation, if it be a situation that we have not brought ourselves into by our own foolishness and negligence, but External circumstances has led us into it. This man would not have wanted bread if his friend had not come in unexpectedly. The care which providence casts upon us, we may with cheerfulness cast back upon providence.

[5.] We ought to continue instant in prayer, and watch in the same with all perseverance.

(b.) To encourage us in prayer.

1. If importunity could prevail thus with a man who was angry at it, much more with a God who is infinitely more kind and ready to do good to us than we are to one another, and is not angry at our importunity, but accepts it, especially when it is for spiritual mercies that we are importunate. If he do not answer our prayers presently, yet he will in due time, if we continue to pray.

2. That God has promised to give us what we ask of him. We have not only the goodness of nature to take comfort from, but the word which he has spoken.

In Christ,

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of 
Fine & Performing Arts (BSTFPA)
www.biblestoriestheatre.org
info@biblestoriestheatre.org