Hebrew Word Study – Play a Harp – Negash  Nun Gimmel Shin

Luke 11:9-10: And 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 asking receives and the one seeking finds, and the one knocking, it will be opened.

Luke 11:9-10 comes right on the heels of a story Jesus told about a man seeking three loaves of bread from a neighbor because he was having a friend spend the night.  In oriental culture a man would face great dishonor if he did not show proper hospitality to a visitor and feeding him was an important aspect of this hospitality.  The man went to his neighbor late at night and began pounding on the door asking his neighbor for three loaves of bread (note three loaves, three represents the Godhead).  His neighbor and family were already in bed and did not want to be bothered and told the man to go away.  But the man persisted until the neighbor finally got up and gave the man what he wanted to shut him up lest he wakes up the whole neighborhood.  Then Jesus said a curious thing: “Knock and it will be opened.”  Was Jesus saying that we must be persistent in our petitions and keep pounding on that door until we finally wear God down to the point where He says: “Oy, angel, give the slob want he wants before he breaks the door down, and get me that bottle of aspirin while you are at it.”   

Christians have a hard time understanding this story.  Yet, the Jews of Jesus day heard something far different than we do in our modern, Greek, Western culture.  For one thing, they knew and understood a truth that we as Christians seem to not understand.

This truth is illustrated in the Talmud and I have no doubt Jesus was drawing upon this truth by using a humorous story to express it.  The Talmud illustrates this truth by explaining that when a king enters the battlefield, he changes his clothing to be unrecognizable.  If the enemy recognizes him they will try to kill him. Yet, his servants nearby can recognize him by his gestures and those who are afar can still discern that the troops are guarding a certain place and the king is probably there.  The Talmud further explains that this is also true of prayer.  Our distracting thoughts and emotions are guarding the King so that we can not see Him.  You must therefore be persistent and push yourselves even more, for the King is there; but our distractions and emotions are merely hiding Him from us.  You see we automatically think that the sleepy neighbor was a representation of God but in fact the sleepy neighbor represents all of the distractions and emotions that keep us from bringing our petitions to God. God is the three loaves of bread. We must be persistent in battling our distractions and emotions for God is there and if we are persistent we will break through those barriers of distractions and emotions and find Him.  If we seek Him we will find Him.  

Note Jesus says knock and it will open. Again we in our Western thought automatically think of a door. Yet in the Aramaic the word knock is neqash which literally means to play a harp.  It comes from a Semitic root which has the idea of opening one’s heart. Its root is often used with the word neqaph which means to have intercourse, an expression of opening your heart to another person, or neqar which means to dig or search as in reaching into the depths of your heart, or nega which is pouring your heart out.  In following the common thread of the Semitic root of NQ Neqash would apply to the playing of a harp because that is an instrument like the violin that is so sensitive to one’s touch that your expression of your heart will be expressed in its music. Thus, if we knock or neqash, express our heart to God, He will open the gateway to His presence. 

There is much talk among Evangelicals about revival. Everyone wants revival.  They try to make revival happen. They read up on revivals in the past and try to mimic the experience in the past. They have their prayer meetings for revival, they have revival services, and try to make the outpouring of the Holy Spirit happen. They whoop it up, dance and sing; only to walk away still feeling empty. In John 3 Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is like the wind, we cannot tell where it came from or where it is headed John 3:8. 

The simple fact is there is no secret formula, there is no book that can guide you to revival. No midnight prayer meetings will bring revival. However, midnight prayer meetings may touch the one thing that will bring a move of the Holy Spirit.  It is found in Psalms 63:1: “A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;” You need, like David, to hunger, not for revival, but for God.  Many Christians hunger for revival because they believe it will save our nation, or they will get healed, or a loved one will get saved.  Many pastors hunger for revival because they know will fill their churches and collection plates. Worship teams hunger for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit while they conduct worship services because they might get a record contract and become famous. 

You will not get revival using gimmicks. Revival comes when like David your soul thirst for God and your flesh longs for God.  You want Him so bad that the first thing you do in the morning is seeking for Him with no other motive than to merely know Him and dwell with Him. First, you need to purge all your selfish motives. That takes persistence, You must keep knocking at the door until you have worked through all your selfish motive for revival, those warriors fighting to keep you from the King.  The strong warriors of the flesh, the desires for fame, security, and even vindication so that you finally reach the point where it is God and Him only you that you seek.  Then you have this promise in Jeremiah 29:13: “And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” When you find Him, you may just also have found revival. 

I once had a business professor say to a class of over fifty students that every one of them could be a millionaire in three years.  But only one or two will reach that goal, if even that many. The reason is that everyone wants to be a millionaire but they don’t want it bad enough. You must want it bad enough that you are willing and ready to give up all your pleasures, all your securities, and yes all your friends and family. If you want it that bad, you will get it.  That same applies to revival because if you are willing to sacrifice everything to know and find God, then He becomes your God and He will manifest Himself to you. 

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