Question: How can I pray to God after I have sinned?
Luke 11:5-10
“Have you no shame?” That is a question often asked of someone who has lost all sense of propriety and is reckless and bold in behavior. One thinks of the immoral woman in Proverbs 7:13 who boldly seizes a young man and kisses him in public. Then she invites him into her bedchamber to enjoy a night of adultery while her husband is away. Jeremiah repeatedly called out the wickedness of his own people in their idolatrous and immoral ways who did not know how to blush with shame (Jeremiah 3:3, 6:15, 8:12). Isaiah decried the wickedness of the Jewish nation who paraded their sin like Sodom and made no attempt to hide it at all (Isaiah 3:9).
By contrast, the godly have learned to carry themselves with decency and a constant sense of propriety, covering their bodies with garments, displaying “shamefacedness” (1 Timothy 2:9), lowering their eyes in humility, and approaching God with overwhelming reverence, knowing that God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Jesus wants his followers to come with unreserved boldness into the throne room to ask for whatever we need.
That’s what makes Jesus’ parable about prayer in Luke 11:5-10 so surprising. Jesus highlights the man’s “boldness” (in the translation above), but ESV says “impudence.” Amazingly, that is a little closer to the actual Greek word in Luke 11:8, which is the negative of shame—in other words, shamelessness. Jesus wants his followers to come with unreserved boldness into the throne room to ask for whatever we need. Maybe a synonym would be “brashness.”
The parable centers around two neighbors. It is midnight, and one of the two men is in bed with his family. His neighbor comes and starts banging on the door, begging for some bread for a guest that has just come to his home. The sleepy neighbor is clearly irritated at this uncommon request and tells the man so—effectively telling him to GO AWAY (“Do not trouble me!”). He gives him the reasons, and they are obvious— “I and my whole family are in bed, and the door is locked.” But the neighbor will not go away… he keeps banging on the door until the man gets up and gives him whatever he needs. Jesus says the neighbor’s reason is not friendship—not at all! Rather it is annoyance; the quickest way to get rid of this man is to do whatever he asks of him.
Like the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18, Jesus uses a “how much more” argument. Frankly, that is the same approach he will use in this very same chapter with fathers giving their children what they ask for. “If so and so (irritated neighbors, sinful fathers, unjust judges) will grant the request, how much more will your Father in heaven?” God is infinitely more powerful and more loving than anyone on earth. If the friend at midnight will yield to the boldness (shamelessness) of the friend, how much more will God grant your requests in prayer.
So let us consider this shocking attribute of powerful prayer: shamelessness. The more I pondered this idea, the richer it became. The clearest example in the Bible of a shameless request granted by the Lord is that made by the thief on the cross. He had no standing, nothing to offer, no good works. He was a convicted criminal who readily acknowledged that he was getting what his deeds deserved by being crucified. But somehow, he had the shamelessness to ask, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come in your kingdom.”
This is the essence of being a spiritual beggar, just as Jesus said in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit (spiritual beggars), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The thief on the cross asked boldly and was granted infinitely more than he asked or imagined: “Today (and for all eternity) you will be with me in paradise.” Similarly, we see blind Bartimaeus, who cried out loudly, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” When the crowd and those leading the way tried to hush him because he was making a scene, he shouted out even louder, “Lord, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:38, 39). A clear example of shamelessness, since he was willing to break all decorum to get an audience with Jesus.
So, what’s shameless about these requests? It has to do with our actual standing before God. When King Saul was pursuing David, hunting him down to kill him, David called out to Abner, the commander of Saul’s army. Abner asked, “Who are you who calls to the king?” (1 Samuel 26:14). Indeed! Who are we who calls to the King of kings and Lord of lords? Who are we to approach the throne that rules a trillion galaxies? Who are we to call out to the God who dwells in unapproachable light? Even if we had been as morally pure as the angels, we would have no standing. The seraphim cover their faces in his presence.
But we, we are not pure. We have rebelled against the very God we are approaching to make this request. We deserve to be consumed by his fiery wrath. Therefore, any angel surrounding heaven’s throne could play Abner’s part and say, “Who are you who calls to the king?” The honest answer would be, “A recently repentant rebel who has never done any pure act of service to God.” That angel could rightly ask, “Have you no shame? On what basis will you make such a request?”
But the answer comes by faith: “Jesus Christ has taken away my shame and given me the standing of an adopted child of God. In and of myself, I would be covered in shame. But in Christ, and in Christ alone, do I make this request. Jesus has commanded me to come boldly, and so I come.” Dear friend, pray shamelessly, boldly, like the friend at midnight. Don’t let anything make you hesitate.
