Page 10 - January 2021 - Truth & Tidings

icture a large mat in a one-room needeth (Luk 11:8). 1
”
house. Dad, mom and their young How should we understand this
Pchildren are sleeping on it, all parable? What was the Lord teaching?
tucked together under a big blanket. It is The answers are in the keyword translated
a chilly night in Palestine. “importunity” (v8), the application the
“Joe! Joe!” Dad wakes to his neighbor’s Lord makes (vv9-10), and the follow-up
voice outside. mini-parable (vv11-13). What becomes
“Can I borrow three loaves of bread? clear is that we should be praying like
My friend just arrived from a long journey. the man at the door, and that our Father
I had no idea he was coming. I’m so answers in ways that are both like, and
not like, the man inside.
embarrassed; I have nothing to feed him!” “Importunity” (v8) is alternatively
Joe knows that if he climbs out from rendered “persistence” (HCSB), or
under the blanket, the cold draft will wake “shamelessness” (LEB footnote). This
up Betty. And if he slides the heavy bolt to word is used only here in the Bible and
open the door, they will have crying kids could literally be translated “not shame.”
to get back to sleep. As much as Joe likes In this parable, it may describe the
his neighbor, this doesn’t seem like a good shameless way in which the man outside
time to move from the mat. continued to plead until he got the bread.
“Joe! Please help me! I know Betty He didn’t care what anyone else in the
baked lots of bread this morning. Please, village thought about his banging on Joe’s
I don’t have anywhere else to go. Joe, you door at midnight – he just kept at it.
know that if I don’t give him food, it will Is that our prayer life? Shameless
look bad on the whole village!” persistence in God’s presence shows
That is the picture the Lord Jesus how seriously we take prayer, and
how seriously we desire what we are
painted for His disciples to teach them requesting. We persist in our studies,
about praying. The parable ends with Joe projects and lifegoals, but if we don’t
getting out of bed to give the bread, and persist in prayer, how seriously do we
the Lord explains, “I say unto you, Though desire what we are requesting? Do we
he will not rise and give him, because he is really believe prayer matters?
his friend, yet because of his importunity ¹ All Scripture quotations in this article are from
he will rise and give him as many as he the KJV unless otherwise noted.

10 TRUTH kTidings January 2021