As Jesus began the third year of His public ministry, Luke 11 tells us that He was praying in a certain place. Jesus often got alone to pray, a pattern that His disciples witnessed. Seeing the Lord pray, one of His disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples” (Lk. 11:1). Perhaps this follower heard Jesus pray; perhaps he observed Jesus silently praying. Either way, he wanted to be like his Master in communing with God.
Jesus had already given direction in how to pray in Matthew 6 as part of the Sermon on the Mount, which took place early in Jesus’ ministry. Nevertheless, Jesus immediately and graciously taught the entire group of disciples what we often call The Model Prayer. The Lord wants us to learn.
Quite commonly we hear something the first time, but we need to hear it again. Other times, we grow in our readiness to hear specific teaching. In other words, we realize we don’t know, but we want to know. That seems to be the case in Luke 11. The Lord obliges. When you want to know what the Bible teaches in a certain matter or how to practice a particular duty, cry after wisdom and seek after it as hid treasure. The Lord will teach you.
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