Persistent Prayer

God’s seeming unwillingness to answer our prayers can leave us feeling bewildered and impatient. Jesus gives insight into the character of God and why we should talk with him. Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1). In reply, he told a story about a man who pestered a neighbor for help, with an unexpected twist (11:5–8). In the end, it was the man’s persistent requests, and not the neighbors’ mutual friendship, that led to the man’s success in getting his neighbor’s help—a turn of events that still baffles readers today. Does this mean that we can bug God into giving us what we want? Does it mean that he is more motivated by getting us off his back than he is by his love for us when he answers our prayers? The answer to both questions is no. What the story makes clear is that our freedom to ask does not dictate God’s response. He is not a servant waiting for a list of tasks we want accomplished. Nor does he rely on us to define our needs, outline solutions, or say when or how he should act. Our all-knowing and all-wise God does those things for us. However, God is eager for His children to develop a habit of talking with Him, including asking Him for help (11:9, 10). That doesn’t mean he will be guided by our limited understanding of a situation and its possible solutions (11:11–13). He asks us to trust him to know what is needed and when. Our calling is to ask—even persistently—and to grow in the process. One of the most surprising benefits of prayer is how much we change when we talk regularly with God. Sometimes that, in itself, is the answer to our prayers.