Why would God listen to prayer?

(from Maurice Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen", with thanks to Ellen Duthie at wereaditlikethis.blogspot.co.uk)

When I go for periods of time when I don't let God into my affections - allowing his Word and his Spirit through the church to remind me of his love for me and to teach me more about him - I start to think of him as a kind of 'maxi-me': a more powerful version of me. but still with my limitations.

When it comes to answering prayer, this way of thinking leads me to conclude that, as I can't handle the many calls on my time, God - with all the millions of people around the world praying to him - must surely struggle too, so I mustn't worry too much if my prayers aren't answered straight away ... in fact, it wouldn't be all that surprising if most of them weren't answered at all!"

Thank God ... he isn't me!

But what about when prayers do seem to go unanswered?  Why is that?  Is it me?  Something I'm not doing or saying right?  Is it my standing, or 'righteousness', before God at the time?

And is there a contradiction, then, between John 14-16 and Luke 16?  ... Between "whatever you ask in My name, that I will do" and "‘Lord, Lord, open for us’ ... but He will say, ‘Depart from Me’"?

In Luke 11, Jesus' disciples ask him to 'teach' them to pray.  Jesus gives them a little insight into his own conversation with his Father ('The Lord's Prayer') ... but then, insightful and loving as ever, he addresses their real concern, their hidden question: "...Lord, teach us to pray in such a way as to persuade the Father to answer our prayers!"

Isn't that what we all want to know?

When we're not close to God in love, we don't necessarily stop believing in him, but we think differently about him.  We trust in his supernatural power (he is 'God', after all) and we trust in his love for us (he did die / send his Son to die to stop us being eternally separated from him, after all), but we don't walk with him in active enjoyment of the love between us ... so he just becomes a 'Father Christmas' figure: we ask him for what we want and, if we've been good enough, he will deliver what we've asked for.

To answer their deeper question, then, Jesus goes on: "Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of the night and said, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread: an old friend traveling through just showed up and I don't have a thing on hand.'

"The friend answers from his bed, 'Don't bother me. The door's locked; my children are all down for the night; I can't get up to give you anything.'

"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 needs."

This story speaks a lot about friendship.  Everyone seems to be friends - there are friends everywhere - it's a beautiful thing!

... But I bet the fellah who had been tucked up in bed for the night is not feeling very friendly at this particular point in time.  And, left to respond purely on his feelings, he clearly isn't about to act on the request: look at where the 'yet' is in Jesus' reply!  He will not rise because he is his friend, yet he will rise because of his friend's importunity.

Impor-what?

What convinces him?  His friend's 'importunity'...

No, I had no idea what this means either!  I thought it meant something along the lines of 'bold (to the point of obnoxious) persistence', and this certainly chimes with a rather scant reading of Luke 18, where a 'persistent widow' harangues a local judge for justice such that eventually, because of her persistence, he answers her.

But, wait!  Is this how we are to think about God, our loving Father whose Son loved us literally to death and whose Spirit has made his very home in our hearts?  Do we really have to wear him down as if his default setting is a general reluctance to get involved in our lives in any way?

Yes of course that idea is ridiculous!  And if we read the story in context, it's clear that this judge, described as "unjust", is the polar opposite to God who judges perfectly with eternal love.  The point of this passage is to show that, if even someone 'unjust' will eventually respond to your desires when their motive is simply to shut you up, how much more willingly will God respond when his motive is his passionate love for you?

So I'm not convinced that the dweller of the house in this story (... the father of the secure children ... the giver of the bread ...) is going to respond because of 'bold persistence'.

What's it all about then?  What is this 'importunity' that seems to be the reason for the request being granted?

Getting into the Greek word, here translated as 'importunity' - with help from Dr. James Strong et al, it literally means 'not bashful/modest'. 

But the word origin for 'bashful/modest' is actually, literally 'not seeing/knowing', which makes the word 'importunity', in this case, mean, literally, 'not not-seeing'!

Not-not-seeing!

So who is that referring to?  Who is the friend asking for bread designed to represent?  Who are those who are 'not not-seeing'?

Luke 8:10 describes those who are 'not-seeing': "... Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand."

Those who 'seeing, might not see' are those who do not understand The Word of God.  Now, if there existed, as reported, people who do not understand The Word of God even when he is standing right there in front of them, what hope is there for any of us?  Who can understand?

There is only one who can make all these things clear: the Spirit of truth.  Jesus would later say of him: "he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you."

Elsewhere described as "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord", this one is able to make one "of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord", such that later Christians can boldly ask "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, (to) give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him".

This holy Spirit of God is the one who can give knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of God and his mysterious Word - so who are they to whom he chooses to give this understanding?

"The mystery (is) revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit" - he gives understanding to all who are set apart for God ("holy apostles") and to all who affirm / make known his thoughts ("prophets").  In other words, everyone who ever has been or who ever will be offered the Spirit and, in accepting him, are eternally enjoined with him.

So, backtracking, those 'not-seeing' are those who don't know the Word of God, whilst those 'not not-seeing' are those who have been sealed with the holy Spirit because they have accepted the offered Spirit of Jesus ... and the father of the house gives his bread to his friend purely on account of his friend's having the holy Spirit.

In all things...

So, basically, our prayers are answered NOT because we are in a state of friendship or active affection before God but simply because we are 'saved'!

... So, pray when you're content, pray when you're not, pray when you are angry with Him, when you're ashamed before Him, pray when you've been turning your back on Him ... our loving Father, Son, and Spirit will still answer, and will still give his very good gifts in abundance.  Thank God!