One of the most misunderstood parables Jesus tells is the story of the friend who knocks at midnight (Luke 11:5–8). You’ve probably heard it framed like this:
“If you just keep pestering God long enough, He’ll eventually give in and answer your prayer.”
But that’s not what Jesus meant and the Church Fathers were clear on this point.
In the parable, a man knocks on his neighbor’s door late at night, asking for three loaves of bread to feed a guest. The neighbor doesn’t want to get up; he’s already in bed, the house is shut down, and the request is inconvenient. Yet eventually, he gets up and gives the bread though not out of friendship or compassion, but to avoid the shame of refusing hospitality.
“If even a man who’s annoyed and half-asleep will still get up and give how much more will your loving Father respond to you?”
That’s the key. Jesus isn’t saying God is like the annoyed man. He’s saying God is completely unlike him. The sleepy neighbor gives reluctantly; God gives gladly.
As St. Augustine wrote:
“Not that He is slow to give, but that we may be prepared to receive.”
So don’t approach prayer like you’re trying to wear God down. Approach Him as a child approaches a loving Father, confident, expectant, and unafraid. Because the One you’re waking up… never sleeps.
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