THE KNOCK AT MIDNIGHT

THE KNOCK AT MIDNIGHT

If you’re in a crisis, read this!

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…keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. Luke 11:9 NLT

But I tell you this—though he won’t do it (open the door) for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of shameless persistence. Luke 11:8 NLT

No one welcomes that knock at midnight.

Bam! Suddenly the sleeper is wide awake. Someone is banging on his front door in the middle of the night. It’s a loud knock! And it doesn’t stop.

What! For an instant, his stunned mind sorts through questions. What is it, that incessant, hard pounding? It’s at the front door!

Is it the police knock?

Is the house on fire?

Is someone hurt?

Is it a neighbor?

Someone running to us for help?

Armed ATF men at the wrong place?

You bet he’s not going to roll over and go back to sleep. He’s got to do something! Where’s his robe? Where’s the light? Grab the cell phone from the night stand. Hit the lights.

Jesus is familiar with this scene. He tells a simple parable about a neighbor whose friend comes in to visit, coming from a long journey. It’s late at night and the visitor is hungry. But the host has no bread, no sandwich meat. He has no choice but to go wake up his neighbor and ask to borrow bread. The neighbor is already sound asleep in bed, so the man must knock louder with persistence until he gets an answer.

For over 30 years we have been busy, constantly building beautiful facilities atop Prayer Mountain Dallas’ high hills. Occasionally we have been in the embarrassing momentary situation of being flat broke. The bank account is empty and the bills are due. We’re pressured to shut down the job.

But God! The fact is, just last week we were in that place. We were putting the final finishing touches on our big and beautiful Patriot Pavilion.  We had been blessed with significant grant aid. But for some unexplained reason, those helpful reimbursement checks stopped coming.

Despite our prayers, day after day no funds came. We quickly reached an impasse. At $50,000 being owed, we had no choice but to halt the job. We were just beginning this process when the long awaited cashier’s check for $51,000 arrived! Everybody got paid. Thank God! The neighbor who beat on the door at midnight must have felt what we all felt when help arrived. Especially me! What’s the point? Why is there sometimes an off-putting delay?

God wants us to have a prayer life that never ceases to trust. This doesn’t mean we get monotonous and repetitive like a machine. God is not asleep, nor unresponsive. Rather, it is like athletic sports. We need to have real skin in the game. That requires daily practice. I’ve endured many knock-downs, and sometimes it looked like the game was lost. But by God’s grace, we have achieved some last minute, comeback victories.

So stay in the game—even if it’s at the midnight hour. God honors persistence. He will come through for you.