Ask, Seek, and Knock
Luke 11:5–13 – Teach Us to Pray
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 9th, 2026 (am)
Two Americans were hiking in England near Balmoral some years ago and ran into Queen Elizabeth out for a walk with her security officer, but they didn’t recognize her. They asked her how long she’d been visiting the area and she responded: More than eighty years. So, they remarked that she must’ve met the Queen at some point during all that time. And she replied calmly, pointing to her guard: No, but he meets her regularly. So, the tourists did just what you’d expect. First, they asked him what she was like, and he replied that she can be cantankerous at times. Then they handed their camera to Elizabeth II and asked her to take their picture with this man who regularly meets the Queen.
Many lessons and even more insights can be drawn from this encounter. But chief among them at the moment is that it’s always best to know who you’re talking to! And we might add that this is particularly true if it’s possible you may be talking to a monarch at the moment. What’s most interesting about this is that we can be amazed and delighted by this story of an unusual encounter with Queen Elizabeth, but we can entirely miss the significance it has for us when it comes to our present subject. If we had unlimited access to some present-day monarch or head-of-state, we’d likely be pretty well-known in our own right. But even if not, we’d still be well-aware of our uniqueness in having such open access to so highly regarded a person.
Yet, in prayer, we’re actually encountering a Monarch, and One of infinitely greater power and authority than Elizabeth II, significant as her reign was in human terms. That’s the insight which stands behind today’s topic, helping us to hear its instruction clearly and respond to it well. Who we’re talking to when we pray—let’s press on exploring who’s who in prayer: who we are, Who God is, and therefore how we should approach prayer, what we should do.
Who Are We Who Ask? – 5-8
In this story, we’re the one who’s needy at midnight. 5 … “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’. Jesus paints a picture of maximum inconvenience, the most undesirable of request-scenarios. First, He puts us in the place of need. We’re the ask-er. And a friend—not an enemy, not a stranger—is the ask-ee. Then, He puts a hosting obligation on our shoulders. Hospitality in that culture was a sacred responsibility. And we’re unprepared!
This is a nightmare! It’s like your boss just introduced you to make the key presentation at a seminar and you suddenly realize don’t even know what the subject matter is! And you’re in your pajamas! Your friend is your only hope! So, you’re knocking on his door at midnight; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? If we were a stranger, he’d have felt the same obligation we’re feeling. But we’re a friend! So, he can console himself with the thought that he can get forgiveness in the morning! But for the same reason, we must keep on knocking! And we know he’ll eventually answer—not because he loves us but just so he can go back to sleep! 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give [you] anything because [you’re a] friend, yet because of [your] impudence he will rise and give [you] whatever [you] need. Impudence means shamelessness; it means audacity (esl).
What is Jesus teaching us here? He’s saying: trust that God will answer. If an inconvenienced friend will eventually give us bread at midnight, how much more will our heavenly Father give us whatever whenever! He just told us to ask for bread, daily! (3) We need to recognize our neediness and be good with that! Then we need to ask. We need to ask shamelessly. We need to be audacious. We need to draw near to the throne of grace with confidence (Heb.4:16), with boldness… through our faith in [Jesus] (Eph.3:12). We do this because we know we’re talking to our Father (2) Who loves us. This is His role, His nature.
Who Are We Asking Again? – 11-13
And that takes us into our second set of observations. As we saw last week, we’re talking to our God, our King, our Provider, our Savior, our Shepherd. He’s going to give us what’s best. Then Jesus stepped it up on both sides with His second illustration. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? Now, it’s not a friend, it’s a son. And it’s not an audacious plea; it’s a daily need. And we’re not the ask-er. We’re now the ask-ee—we’re the giver! How much do we want to give to our children?!
Jesus has, in turn, put us on each sides of the issue: first we are the one with a desperate need. Then we’re the one who’s being sought, the one with the resources and loving heart. Put all this together and we’ve learned much about prayer. We’ve learned Whom to approach: our Father, the hallowed God, our King, Provider, Savior, and Shepherd (1-4). Now we’ve learned how to approach Him: with complete trust, knowing He’ll give us what’s best (5-8). In fact, He gives us Himself! 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give (good things [Mat.7:11]) the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
Think about that! Not only are we assured that God won’t give us something harmful when we ask, He’ll give us the Holy Spirit, the ultimate Gift, the third Person of the Trinity, the Agent of our new birth (Joh.3:5-8) Who baptizes (1Co.12:13) and seals (Eph.1:13) and fills us (Eph.5:18), the One Who helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us (Rom.8:26), Who guides (Joh.16:13) our walk (Gal.5:16), the One Who teaches and reminds us (Joh.14:26) of all truth (Joh.16:13). I’m reminded right now of the promise in Psa.37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. When you delight in the Lord, you receive your desires. You receive the Lord Himself! He entrusts (cf. Joh.2:24) Himself to you in the Person of the Spirit.
Just think about that! The Holy Spirit is the One Who helps us see this world with God’s eyes, and hear it with His ears, and feel it with His heart. He’s the One Who helps us walk with God even in all this chaos!
This is where we most see God’s heart for us, that He withholds nothing from us of genuine value. So, if we feel like we’re praying and not receiving what we ask, we can be sure of at least two things: (1) it’s not that God is not answering. As He told us through John: 1Jo.5:14 … this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. And (2) whatever answer He’s giving that we aren’t seeing is entirely good. It’s entirely for our good (Rom.8:28). This is the God we’re talking to when we pray.
You might ask: but what does that phrase mean: according to his will—doesn’t that put a qualifier on the prayers God will answer? Yes, of course it does. God isn’t a genie in a bottle. He’s not a fairy godfather who exists to grant wishes. He’s the sovereign Creator, the Ruler of this universe, Whose purpose it is to reveal His glory by reconciling to Himself all those He rescues from this rebellious and sinful world. So, yes, He answers prayers that are in keeping with His perfectly good will and purpose and plan. But He’s also [taught] us right here (2-4) how to pray in that way.
What Are We Supposed to Do? – 9-10
9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. This is what we do. We press on in prayer. We keep doing it because we know God answers. And the further we go with Him in prayer, the more we begin to understand His heart and to pray in line with His will (1Jo.5:14). Then we begin to see that He keeps His promises. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks [it is] opened.
We just need to keep praying. This reminds me of the teaching in Jam.4:2 …You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. First, we don’t pray. But when we do, seeking the heart of God is not our priority. So, prayer just doesn’t seem to work. The thing is, it does! It’s as reliable as the character of God Himself. We just need to let Him shape the parameters of prayer, then enter in!
But there’s one more thing here we should clarify. Don’t interpret your asking, seeking, and knocking according to the scene Jesus painted in vv.5-8. Your sleeping friend stands in contrast to God, not comparison. He’s just a reminder that good can be given grudgingly. But that’s not how God gives it; vv.11-13 make that clear. He delights to give us good. So, we’re not being told that we’ll be asking, seeking, and knocking for every single answered prayer we receive from God. We’re being told that asking, seeking, and knocking should be the nature of our prayer lives. We should always be praying, always be asking, seeking, and knocking. We should never be lacking because we haven’t asked. In fact, it’s foolish not to ask! We’re only harming ourselves when we’re not asking, seeking, and knocking. We’re limiting our own growth, hindering our own happiness in the Lord. We’re forfeiting the desires of [our] heart (Psa.37:4).
Conclusion
God, deliver us from our prayerlessness!Deliver us from our misconceptions of prayer that lead us to prayerlessness. Help us to be reshaped by our study of Your Word to recognize all You’ve given us in prayer—how You provide us not just with food (3) and place (2), but how you can make us into gracious and faithful people (4)—then help us to enter into it: to ask and seek and knock knowing with confidence that You will hear and answer (1Jo.5:14-15).
What keeps me from going to prayer frequently throughout the day in response to my needs and the circumstances I’m seeing around me?
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Resources
Beale, G. K., & D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Luke, by David W. Pao & Eckhard J. Schnabel, 251-414. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
Calvin, John. 1610. Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, trans. by, William Pringle, 1845. Logos.
Carson, D. A., R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Hebrews, by I. Howard Marshall, 978-1020. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.
Dockery, David S, ed. 1992. New American Commentary. Vol. 24, Luke, by Robert H. Stein. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.
Hughes, R. Kent. 1998. Preaching the Word. Luke: That You May Know the Truth. Wheaton: Crossway.
Longman III, Tremper, & David E. Garland, eds. 2007. Revised Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 10, Luke-Acts. Luke, by Walter L. Leifeld & David W. Pao, 19-355. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Morris, Leon, gen. ed. 1988. Tyndale New Testament Commentary. Vol. 13, Luke, by Leon Morris. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.
Muck, Terry, ed. 1996. The NIV Application Commentary. Luke, by Darrell Bock. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Strong, James. 1995. Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (ESL). Logos Bible Software.
NEXT SUNDAY: Teach Us to Pray, Part 3, Strengthened with Power, Ephesians 3:14–21