The Meaning of Importunity

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. I 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.—Luke 11:7-8

Jesus gave a parable of a friend has a friend on a journey who comes to him at midnight. He is tired and hungry, but his host has no bread. The host goes his neighbor and asks to borrow some bread. At first , the neighbor refuses to lend him bread saying, “Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.”

This message of this parable is often misunderstood.  Jesus used parables in two ways: (1) To teach by comparison (“this is like that”).  (2) To teach by contrast (“this is not like that”).  In the parable of our text, Jesus is teaching a contrast of what God is not like.

God is not some cosmic grouch who is too sleepy to answer our prayers.  God would never say, “Trouble me not,” or “Don’t bother Me!”  In fact, God is more troubled by our lack of praying than by our continual coming to Him in prayer. He is never bothered by our midnight cries for help. His door is never shut, but always open to our requests. He invites us, “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee…” (Ps. 50:15).

The lesson of this parable is not about God’s reluctance to answer our prayers.  Jesus is teaching that God sometimes tests the earnestness of our faith before answering.  Answers to prayer are sometimes delayed, not because God must be nagged, but because He is seeking to reveal in us the intensity of our desire.

Persistent praying demonstrates our conviction and confidence in God’s provision.  If the friend asking for bread in the parable left and went back home after his first request was put off, it would have revealed he did not have much faith in his neighbor meeting his need. But, because he kept on asking, knocking and seeking, he finally got what he asked for.

When we prevail in prayer we demonstrate our faith is strong and we are very serious and sincere about our request. If the answer to your prayer seems to go unheard, don’t interpret it as a denial.  It may mean the answer is only being delayed.

The question is:  Just how much do you want what you are praying for?  Enough to stay at God’s door and keep knocking until He answers?