Importunity

Luke 11

⁵And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
⁶For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
⁷And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
⁸I 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.
⁹And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
¹⁰For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.


I see a modern day illustration of this word. When I am on the highway, and there is construction ahead, and there are signs with flags posted, saying, ‘left lane closed ahead’; the cars all move to the right lane and wait their turn to go through the narrowed passage. And you can see the one-lane line of traffic stretching back a mile or two. And traffic is slowed to a standstill and frustration rises. Then some cars, ignoring the signs and the waiting line, will go full speed down the left lane to where the left lane ends. And they will sit there with their turn signal blinking, as if to say, ‘I can’t go any further please let me in’. And someone, moved with compassion, will stop and hold up all the cars that have waited in line, to let that person through.