Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

– Luke 11:5-9 NIV

What do you do when you don’t just want something, but you genuinely need it? You find a way to get it, don’t you? You keep pushing for it, and you don’t back down. You know that no one is going to give you what you need. You have to make it happen on your own.

In the culture of Jesus’s day, not having food for a visitor would be deeply embarrassing for a host. And that’s what makes this story from Jesus so powerful. In the example, the man did whatever it took to get food for his guest, even banging on a neighbor’s door and waking up the entire family in the middle of the night! Jesus shared this story because we are to approach God with the same tenacity.

There is so much we will need from God during our lifetime, and He expects us to bring it all to the door—to knock until He opens. We don’t need to worry about showing up too often, talking too much, being irritating or bothersome, or asking for something too small or too large. We just need to show up and keep asking. God will respond to our persistence.

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Journey with Jesus in Jesus Through Us: Following His Example in Love and Service, the third book in the Life Along the Way series!