In Part 1 we looked at a parable in Luke 11:5-8 Jesus told about a man that went to his friend’s house at midnight to ask for some food he could set before a friend of his who came from a long journey. The key verse is “I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.“
We saw that the literal meaning of the word translated importunity (in the KJV) means no shame, or shamelessness. Other words to describe it are persistence, audacity, brazenness. We saw that God encourages such bold, “I won’t take no for an answer” attitudes in prayer, and calls it faith.
Let’s look at some more Biblical examples of people who exhibited importunity.
Roof Access Only
Luke 5:17-26 17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.
19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?
23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’?
24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”–He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”
Jesus was teaching in a house, and there were many Pharisees and teachers of the law there. The power of the Lord was present to heal them. Them who? Anybody that was there and availed themselves of it, which included the Pharisees and teachers of the law.
It was a packed house. Some men, a parallel passage in Mark 2 says there were four of them, had a friend with them who was paralyzed. They just knew that if they could get their paralyzed buddy in before Jesus, he would be healed. They tried the front door. They tried the back door. They tried the windows. Vs. 18 in the KJV says they sought means to bring him in.
As they were wondering what to do, one of them noticed there was no one on the roof. Now the houses in that time were built with flat roofs, and many of them had the roof made into a patio area with a stairway leading up to it. Remember in Acts 10:9 when Peter went up to the housetop to pray at lunchtime, and saw a vision?
So the four men carry their buddy on the stretcher up to the rooftop, and then commence to tearing up the tiling on the roof. They were destroying personal property! That’s pretty audacious. That’s not taking “no” for an answer.
Down inside the house, the owner sees sawdust start to fall from the ceiling. He pokes his wife, “Hey, didn’t you just have the termite inspectors here last week?” He keeps watching, and all of a sudden he sees a patch of blue sky. Then somebody sticks his face in front of the hole and grins.
They proceeded to tear a hole in the roof. This would have had to be a pretty big hole, they didn’t just tie a rope around their friend’s neck and lower him down, it had to be big enough to lower a stretcher with a grown man on it.
Even though many people were probably distracted by what was happening on the roof, Jesus kept on preaching. It says when he saw their faith – evidenced by the means they took to get their friend there – he said to the man, “Your sins are forgiven you.”
Apparently the man had an issue. Either he had had some sin in his life, or more likely, he just believed he did. It was a common belief amongst the Jews that handicaps like this were a result of judgment for sin. Like in John 9 when the disciples encounter a man born blind, and they ask Jesus, “Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?” They didn’t ask if sin was the problem, they just asked who sinned. In a similar way, when the rulers question the blind man who was now healed how it was done, they didn’t want to hear the answer. So the former blind man gives them a nice little lecture that if Jesus were not of God, He could do nothing. The rulers reply in John 9:34, “You who were born altogether in sins, do you presume to teach us?” Again, the assumption that sin was the reason for his blindness.
So whether the paralytic man really had sin in his life or just believed that was the cause, Jesus told him he was forgiven. And the Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by had problems with that: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Jesus, knowing what they were grumbling about, said to them, “which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or ‘Rise and walk’?” In other words, which took more or less of God’s intervention: forgiving the man’s sins or healing him? “So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins,” he said to the paralytic, “Rise, take up your bed, and go home.” Which the man did. And that completely blew the Pharisees and teachers of the law away, so that they said, “We have seen strange things today.”
Walking on Water
Matthew 14:22-32 22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.
23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
I have a question: whose idea was it for Peter to walk on the water? It was Peter’s. That certainly fits the description of “audacious” – fearlessly, and almost recklessly bold. What gave Peter the power to walk on the water? Jesus’ command to come. Now think of it; how else is Jesus going to answer? “No Peter, it’s not Me, don’t come!” Actually something else is going on; Peter is showing great boldness and faith at this moment, and God encourages that.
So Peter steps out of the boat, and walks on the water towards Jesus. At that moment, if Jesus had pulled out His faith-o-meter, He would say that Peter was operating in great faith. He was fulfilling the statement Jesus made about “the works I do, you shall do also.” He is doing something we normally associate with divinity.
But something happens to Peter on the way. He takes His eyes off of Jesus, and starts to looking around at his circumstances. Oh, there are so many lessons about faith here. He sees the waves, and he starts to be afraid. Basically, the devil hands him the line “You can’t walk on the water when it’s windy.”
What does the wind or the waves have to do with Peter’s ability to walk on the water? Absolutely nothing! Try walking across a swimming pool when it’s perfectly calm and see how far you get. But fear is not rational.
He started to be afraid, and the miracle began to unravel. Notice it says he began to sink. If you step off into a swimming pool, do you begin to sink? No, you go down, sploosh! So I suspect on Peter’s part that his feet started getting lower in the water, and that water level was climbing up his legs.
He cried out “Lord, save me!” and Jesus was right there to grab him by the hand, pull him back up with the words, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Then they both walked back to the boat and got in, and the wind ceased. The parallel passage in John 6:21 says and immediately the boat was at the shore toward which they were rowing.
Bargaining with God
In Genesis 18 the Angel of the Lord (the pre-incarnate Christ) and two other angels are on the way to Sodom and Gomorrah to check out whether it is as bad as the outcry that has been heard in heaven. You might ask, wouldn’t God already know what it’s like there? Why would He have to come check it out? He’s going to act as the Judge of the earth, and as such He must gather evidence.
They stop by to have a conversation with Abraham, God’s covenant partner. First, He reiterates the promise that Abraham and Sarah will have a child within the year. Then, He begins to speak to Abraham about Sodom and Gomorrah: “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?”
If you study out your Bible, you’ll see that God always talked it over with someone on the earth before he brought judgment. Noah preached and warned the people for 120 years while building the ark. God sent the prophets to warn the people of impending judgment. Sometimes, like in the case of Jonah, the judgment was avoided because the people repented.
Amos 3:7 7 Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
Psalm 115:16 says that “the heavens are the Lord’s, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.” The way I see it, God has given man a lease on the earth. At one time I owned a rental property that I leased out. And even though I owned the house, I could not just walk in there anytime I wanted. I had to get permission from the tenants.
There will come a day when man’s lease on the earth is up, and God will come back to reclaim it. Actually, it is a man that will come back for it, the Man Jesus Christ.
In the meantime, God reveals what He is going to do to His prophets, they speak it forth, and it becomes the word of God that will not return to Him void without accomplishing what He sent it to (Isaiah 55). He shows His people what He wants to do, and we pray for it to come about. He partners with us to bring about His will in the earth. It is like the tenants inviting the landlord in to do what he wants. And all God needs is one person to listen to Him and speak His word forth.
Genesis 18:16-25 16 Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way.
17 And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,
18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
20 And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,
21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.
23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?
25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Abraham takes it upon himself to do some bargaining with the Lord. He says some things that are very bold – he gives God advice on what the right thing to do is. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Many people today would not dare to talk to God like that – they would think it is presumptuous. But Abraham had a relationship with God – he knew God would listen to him. And everything Abraham suggested, The Lord agreed with. I am convinced that if Abraham had said, “Would you spare the place for the sake of Lot” He would have agreed.
Let Me Alone
In Exodus 32, Moses went up on the mountain of God to receive the 10 commandments, and the Law. He was gone for 40 days, and the people grew impatient with the delay. They decided to manufacture a god, a golden calf.
God is patient and slow to anger, but even He has His limits. And Israel had crossed the line.
Exodus 32:7-14 7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ “
9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!
10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”
11 Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ “
14 So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
Notice how the Lord says to Moses, “your people whom you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves.” He was ready to disown them. Then in vs. 10 He says, “…let Me alone that My wrath may burn hot against them and that I may consume them. And I will make out of you a great nation.”
He asked Moses to let Him alone. But Moses wouldn’t let Him alone – he reminded God that these were His people, He told the Lord His reputation would be damaged, and he reminded Him of His promises to Abraham that He would multiply his descendants and give them the land. And in vs. 14 in the KJV it says that God repented of the harm He was going to do to Israel.
God repented? Doesn’t it say that God is not a man that He should lie, or a son of man that He should repent? (Numbers 23:19).
God never sins, so He never has to repent in that way. But repent also means to rethink or change your mind. And there are several examples where God changes His mind about judgment, because someone asks Him to.
Ezekiel 33:11 11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
God does not enjoy judging people. I once heard a born again rabbi say there was a Jewish tradition that after the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea, while the people of Israel were dancing and rejoicing, that Moses heard the sound of the Lord weeping. He asks, “Lord, why is it that You weep? Did You not save Your people in a great deliverance today?” To which the Lord replied, “Are not the Egyptians My people also?”
God is a holy God, and He must judge sin. But he does not enjoy it. He would rather forgive and show mercy. All things being equal, His mercy will triumph over His judgment (James 2:13). But He must have a “legal” reason to show mercy, one that will not violate His sense of justice. The righteous – someone in right-standing with Him – interceding for the wicked is one of those reasons. So because of this, God searches for an intercessor:
Ezekiel 22:29-31 29 The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger.
30 So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
31 Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.
Keep on Asking
If we go back to the story of the friend waking his neighbor, look at the verses that immediately follow it:
Luke 11:9-10 9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
The Greek in these verses uses the continuous present tense, so it can be read as “Ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.”
There is a common thread in many of these stories we have read. They encountered opposition to their requests. At first it looked like the answer was no, that they couldn’t have it. But opposition to your request does not indicate the will of God in the matter.
Many people take the attitude, “Well, if God wants me to have something, I will, but if He doesn’t, I won’t”. You’ll probably do without – and it is not because it wasn’t God’s will.
What if the paralytic borne by his four friends had said, “Aw guys, let’s go home. We can’t get in. If God wanted me to be healed, He would have made a way for us.” If he had done that, his story would not be in the Bible.
Faith doesn’t lose heart and quit. Faith persists past resistance and obstacles. Faith keeps on asking.
And then faith receives.
