Our daily reflections follow the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan, designed for those who want to read the whole Bible in one year. Each reflection focuses on one of the chapters from that day's readings. Darllenwch rhain yn Gymraeg.
Lord, thank you for your word. Help me to listen. Help me to trust. Help me to act.
Like Matthew, Luke includes the Lord’s Prayer in his Gospel but, unlike Matthew, he immediately adds a number of parables about God’s character.
In the first parable Jesus contrasts God with a man who reluctantly gives a friend what he has come to ask for – in the middle of the night. If a human being can be persuaded to help an insistent friend at an inconvenient time, why should God, who has everything and is available 24/7, turn you away? Just keep asking.
Jesus carries on to use three analogies: someone asking and receiving; someone looking for something and finding it; and a door opening to someone knocking. They are memorable images that keep hammering home the same message: don’t give up on prayer. God will respond.
The next passage talks about a father’s natural instinct to care for his child’s needs and keep them from harm, recapping the earlier message: if flawed human fathers can show kindness, why would our heavenly father not do the same?
At times, reality seems to fly in the face of these teachings of Jesus. Many prayers, however earnest and insistent, go unanswered. Might this be where verse 13 comes in, helping us to get the big picture: ‘How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him’? God is no grocer and prayer is no shopping list. God wants to give us his greatest gift: himself. The ultimate essence of prayer, then, is spiritual union with God. In the presence of the Holy Spirit, our needs and wants can fall silent, at least for now.
Lord, help me to seek you first when I pray.
This reflection was written by Michael Pfundner, Bible Society's Publishing Support Manager
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