I’m not sure how you would describe prayer to the average person, but it’s probably not the way Jesus described it.
Jesus suggested that we could — and perhaps should — annoy God when we pray.
In Luke 11, while Jesus was teaching his followers about prayer, he told a story about a man who asked a friend for some bread. Now, that sounds a lot like how we’d describe prayer, doesn’t it? We come to God and ask him for something and hope that we get it.
Let’s keep digging because there’s more to the story. The man didn’t just ask, but asked at the worst possible time: midnight after everyone was in bed. And he didn’t just ask for something, but rather for the most inconvenient thing: bread that would require the friend to get up, get dressed, unlock the door to deliver it and then go through all the steps necessary to secure his home again for the night. It was a hassle, and that’s why the friend said no.
That’s where we find the twist that Jesus adds that we probably wouldn’t have. Look at the bomb Jesus dropped:
“But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.” (Luke 11:8, emphasis mine)
The Greek word used for “shameless persistence” means “importunity.” Not much help if we don’t know what importunity means, and I’ll admit that I didn’t. When I looked it up, the definition floored me: “persistence, especially to the point of annoyance.” When’s the last time you described prayer as the art of annoyance? I’m guessing never. Me, either.
Jesus basically told his followers to do what kids do in the checkout line at grocery stores! Ask for that candy bar and keep on asking until you get what you want. I know this type of thing can go off the rails pretty quickly, but can we take a minute and just consider that Jesus told us to approach God like a child and have the boldness to know that he hears us even when we annoy him? And that our annoyance might even move him?
Jesus said that “if you keep knocking long enough” the answer will come. His application of that teaching was obvious: keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking. In other words, the point of praying isn’t always to display our maturity, but rather our immaturity. Jesus didn’t encourage us to come to the Father as adults who have it all together, but as children who are falling apart.
[Tweet “The point of praying isn’t always to display our maturity, but rather our immaturity.”]It’s a death blow to our pride, and I think that might just be the point. Desperate people knock until the door opens. They don’t care who hears them or how many tell them to stop. They have long since kissed reputation good-bye, and will settle for nothing less than the light shining through the crack as the door begins to open.
They knock, and knock, and knock, and eventually, they see the light.
Keep knocking, friend. Let’s annoy God together.
