Luke 10:38-11:13 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”⁴¹ But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; ⁴² but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

11 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” ² And He said to them, “When you pray, say:

‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. ³ ‘Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴ ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

⁵ Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; ⁶ for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; ⁷ and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹ “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. ¹¹ Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? ¹² Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? ¹³ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Today’s text begins:  Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”   How often are we, like Martha worried and bothered about so many things? At times, even serving the Lord and serving other people; doing good, can be come worriesome. Even worse doing good, can become a distraction to the thing that is neessary, our time with the Lord. God’s purpose in redeeming us from sin, was not that we would serve Him. It was so that we being fully reconciled to Him, could be in His presence and fellowship with Him. We can learn more about God and Jesus by spending an hour in their presence than we can spending many hours reading what others have written about them. Even more than learning about them, when we prioritize our relationship and our fellowship, we become like them. We become like that which we behold. Jesus said: “Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”   God will never discipline us for spending too much time in His presence. Martin Luther, the great reformer of the 1500’s is quoted as saying:  “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”   I doubt that many of us have attained that lofty goal, but this much I do know; to pray at length requires that we listen more than we speak. The most sure way to have our prayers answered is to pray what God wants for the situation. In Psalm 37:4 the psalmist says:  Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

That brings us to the second part of today’s text:  It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”  And He said to them, “When you pray, say:   ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.  ‘Give us each day our daily bread.  ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’”   Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”    We see from the model of prayer that Jesus taught that it is not our many words, it is not the quality of our prayer that matters, but rather it is our persistence; the quantity of time that we spend with God that matters. Jesus says:  “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”   There is the key, when we spend time in God’s presence, when we are persistent in pursuing fellowship and a relationship with the God of creation and the King who sacrificed His life to redeem and reconcile us, we not only look like them; we not only know their will, but we are filled with the very Spirit that is part of them. When we, like Mary, choose the best part; what is necessary, when we are persistent to prioritize our relationship with God and time in His presence, it will not be taken from us. We will become more like that which we behold. We will be created in the image and likeness of God and Christ, and we will be filled by the Holy Spirit.

Thank You Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. Help me to not be bothered and worried by the many things that come to distract me, even the good things which would keep me from what is necessary, my time with You. As I delight myself in You, as I behold Your goodness, may I know and do Your will.   Amen.