Theme: Ask and it shall be given
Text: Gen. 18:20-32; Col. 2:12-14; Luke 11:1-13
Read Lk. 11:9-10 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."
Jesus often taught using parables and as is always the case, today’s parable teaches another very important lesson. In most parables depicting God, Christ normally uses the main character as a God-type. But in today’s parable, we notice that the unsympathetic friend bears no resemblance to the compassionate God whom Christ taught us to call Father. By contrasting this man with God is to encourage us to trust in the goodness of God. If such a friend can respond to human need, how can we doubt the willingness of God to respond to our needs? How can we doubt the words of Jesus, which says to ‘ask and it shall be given’? Today science and technology seem to have made many indifferent to the goodness of God as we see in many nations especially the developed ones. The Churches in these nations are practically empty and many have been converted into places of amusement because most of these people believe they are capable of providing for themselves and therefore see no need for God. If they have no need for God why should they care whether He is compassionate or not? Yet there is no one who is truly self-sufficient and independent of God. Even those who feel they do not need God because they do not have a care in the world will very often turn to God when they face danger. Careful planning and management can reduce our helplessness or vulnerability to circumstances, but inevitably life catches us unprepared. Sooner or later we find ourselves surprised by an unexpected demand. We awake to a knocking on our door and hear a familiar voice in the dark announcing an unexpected guest who is weary and hungry from his journey and we have nothing in the house to offer him. The only option left to us is to turn to God who has told us to ask and it shall be given.
We have all been caught in such an embarrassing situation before or we may even find ourselves in such a situation today. Someone has come to visit just before payday without informing us or has come at a time when the house is in a mess and all the food had been eaten with nothing left to offer. But what Jesus is talking about here is more than just an embarrassing situation; He is talking about the crucial situations we face in life, which He understands very well, even better than ourselves. Christ is warning us that sooner or later life is going to surprise us with some unexpected demands. He does not tell us what form they will take but experience suggest a number of possibilities; delinquency – criminal behaviour by a child, addiction to drugs or alcohol, divorce, a business failure, a crippling accident, a terminal illness such as cancer, HIV or Aids or even death. It does not have to happen to us personally, but it can happen in ways that affects us. What happened at the Accra Sports stadium and what happened during the last flooding should serve to remind us that such a time can come for any of us when we least expect it and there is nothing we can do to prevent it. When we experience such life threatening situations we can always come to God and ask for His help. God waits for us to ask through prayer before He answers as He reminds us in His words ‘ask and it shall be given’. Some people, however, question the need to pray. They argue that if God is all-powerful and knows everything He should just go ahead and do what He wants to do? Why should events on earth be related to our prayers at all? We can find the answer in the words of John Wesley that "God does nothing on earth save in answer to believing prayer."
According to the Scriptures the whole earth was given over to man’s rule or dominion and God was bound for all time and eternity to honour His commitment. The Psalmist is Psalm 8 declares, “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him. For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honour. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands: You have put all things under his feet.” When Adam and Eve surrendered to Satan’s lie, they lost this dominion and instead came under Satan’s dominion. When Jesus triumphed over sin and death God’s original intent and purpose for man was restored. God honours the dominion He has given to man and restored to him and therefore waits for us to come to Him in prayer before He enters the earthly arena. Regular prayer brings intimacy with God and in times of need those who pray know where to go. Though most Christians would agree that God honours moment-by-moment communion with Him, we still struggle to make it a central part of our daily lives. If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we do not pray as we should – not as often, not as specifically and not as confidently as we should. We can change this when we understand that our relationship with God is that of a child to a parent - to a father. As our Father He knows us better than we know ourselves and He longs to give us what is best for us. He is not at all like the unsympathetic friend in today’s parable. But like the host in the parable when we are confronted with an unexpected guest we should not sit down and wring our hands in despair. We should take the necessary action. The host in the parable did not just sit down. He acted – he walked through the dark streets till he came to a house where he knocked on the door and asked for bread. He did not just walk aimlessly he knew exactly where to go. What will we do when we are surprised with an unexpected need? Will we know where to go? Can we find our way to God and trust Him to meet our need. Many of us treat God like a casual friend and do not consider it important enough to spend time with Him. We know where we can find Him on Sundays but we do not know how to reach Him in an emergency.
God loves to give. He has what we need but we need to approach Him to receive it. How did the host know where to go? How could he be sure this friend had bread? He could only know if he had been there before - if he had enjoyed his hospitality before. What will we do when a midnight visitor surprises us when we have nothing to offer? Will we know where to go? If we have been able to find our way to God in the daytime when everything is well with us, we will also be able to find Him in the darkness when we are surprised by an unexpected demand. If, however, we were not able to find Him in the daytime how can we expect to find Him in the dark?
True prayer involves responsibilities. It involves honouring God’s kingdom and doing God’s will. It is not to get man’s will done in heaven, but to get God’s will done on earth. Prayer is not telling God what we want and then selfishly enjoying it. It is asking God to use us to accomplish what He wants so that His name is glorified, His kingdom is extended and strengthened, and His will is done. Abraham had such an intimate relationship with God that he knew what God wanted. He knew God would spare wicked Sodom for the sake of only ten righteous people. He knew that it is not the presence of evil that brings God’s mercy and long-suffering to an end but rather the absence of good and his intercessions were in line with God’s character and covenant with man. Abraham knew that God must punish sin, but he also knew from experience that God is merciful to sinners. Like Abraham, we may appeal to God to preserve His name, honour, and perfect justice in the world. God will not work on earth without someone who will work with Him. We must therefore know the word of God because it is there that we discover the will of God. Let us work with God so that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The resources of God are sufficient to supply our most demanding needs if they are in accordance with His will. The Scriptures are filled with accounts of His abundant provision. When Adam and Eve sinned and became ashamed of their nakedness, God made them "coats of skins and clothed them." For forty years, God fed the Israelites with manna from heaven and quenched their thirst with water from a rock. God’s provisions are not limited to our physical needs. He knows we cannot live by bread alone so He provides forgiveness for the guilty, salvation for the sinful, peace for the troubled, love for the lonely and friendless, rest for the weary, joy for the sorrowful and strength for the weak. When life takes us by surprise with some unexpected demands, we do not need to be afraid for God is never unprepared. He waits for our prayers so that He can meet our needs.
There is a story about a young Jewish Rabbi whose only son became a Christian. When he was told the news he was so shocked by it that he collapsed and died from a heart attack. At heaven’s gate Peter asked him how he could have died from a heart attack at such an early age. He replied that Peter could never understand unless he had an only son who had become a Christian. Peter replied that the same thing had happened to God the Father and that His only Son also became a Christian. Now very interested the Rabbi asked ‘and what did God do about it?’ ‘He wrote a new Testament’ replied Peter. As Christians we have the New Testament and can always come to God and call Him our Father. Those under the Old Covenant believed that God’s name was too holy to be uttered through human lips and could not enjoy the sort of intimate relationship we have with Him today. Once we are secure in our relationship with God and His will, we can bring all our requests to Him. One of our greatest needs is God’s forgiveness and Jesus teaches us to ask for forgiveness as we forgive others. It is that simple. In the Old Testament the only way to obtain forgiveness of sins was by sacrificing an animal. A person who had sinned was required to bring his sacrificial offering, a sheep, a goat, a bull or some other animal to the priest. He would confess his sin over the offering, and the priest would symbolically transfer the sin he had confessed from the person to the animal, which would then be killed to pay the penalty for the sin. And this had to be repeated again and again. Under the New Testament if we want our sins to be forgiven we simply need to go to the Father and ask him because Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sins. But we should also be ready to forgive those who have wronged us. We often pray these very important words ‘Lord forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’ when there are people in our own households that we do not even speak with. How often do we recite the Lord’s Prayer without even thinking about what it really means. Have we been asking for God to forgive us yet failing to forgive others? How can we expect God to forgive us when we cannot forgive our wives or husbands, when we cannot forgive our children or our parents, when we cannot forgive our neighbours? As someone has said forgiveness is enlightened self-interest. God has forgiven us much more than we can ever forgive and it is in our own interest to forgive.
God’s decision to do things on earth through human beings was complete and final. So complete and final that Adam had the ability to give it away to another. It was so final that it cost God His beloved Son to regain what Adam gave away. Jesus had to become part of the human race in order to redeem fallen mankind. Although God is sovereign and all-powerful, Scripture clearly tells us that He limited Himself to working through human beings concerning the affairs of earth. Isn’t this the reason the earth is in the condition we find it in today? It is not in this condition because God wills it so. It is in this condition because of God’s need to work and carry out His will through people. The midnight visitor received the bread he needed because he persisted. This parable does not suggest, as some have mistakenly concluded, that God can be influenced or manipulated by stubborn, strong willed prayers. Persistent prayer produces a change in us that brings us to the point where God can trust us with the answer. When we pray we put God’s reputation at stake and the way he takes care of His children is a witness to the world that He can be trusted. God can be trusted. We hold the key to influence the situations that we find in our lives and in the world today because of God’s decision to do things on earth through human beings. Let us improve the world by being persistent in prayer, praying at all times and with all prayer and believing that when we ask it shall be given to us. Amen!
