Keep on Asking, Seeking, Knocking

“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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.” –Matthew 7:7-8 (ESV).

I read these verses from Matthew 7—ask, seek, knock—and beseech God in prayer for things that I sincerely think I am needing to have come to pass. Why, since God promises that in asking, seeking, knocking fulfillment will come, are my requests not answered, or why do I have to wait so long?

I must remember that Jesus gave the teaching we have above in what we call His “Sermon on the Mount.” It is the best sermon we can find anywhere on how disciple should live, think, act, react, pray, conduct his/her life. I should not extract these two verses—with the action they indicate (keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking)—from the context of what Jesus teaches in the Sermon. He makes it very clear in the sermon that the focus of the Christian’s life should not be egocentric—always seeking for what I want. Rather, the true way to God is narrow: “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a new find it.” (Mt. 7:14). I am to ask, seek, knock within God’s will for me. Just as I would not give bad gifts to my earthly children or to those I love, how much more than I does God know about giving good gifts to me, or, in this context, answering my “asking, seeking, knocking” by saying “wait awhile” or “No”.

I gain additional perspective on how I should ask from James 4:2b-3:

“You do not have because you do not ask. Ye ask, and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (NEV)

Asking suggests dependence. I am depending on God to supply my needs, to answer prayers of intercession for others, asking for answers on challenges faced. And even though He knows what those are before I ask Him, He is my Father, and as His child, I go in trust to Him, asking him, indicating my dependence on Him.

Seeking suggests yearning. Oh! How I yearn to know more about God, and to experience the good He has stored up for me! I yearn for God’s goodness and for His good gifts for me. “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God.” –Psalm 41:1 (NIV) Seeking is my way of finding God daily! I read of devout Christians who named themselves, using a spiritually-connected adjective following their name—as ______, the Faithful; _________, the obedient. What would I name myself, I thought. And immediately it came back: Ethelene, the Seeker.

Knocking suggests persistence. In His Sermon, Jesus wanted to show disciples (and now I’m included in that circle!) how to grow in faith, how to conduct the Christian life. We keep on knocking at the door of the Giver of every good and perfect gift. A wonderful illustration of His being on the other side of our door is Holman Hunt’s magnificent painting of Jesus at the Door. Jesus stands on the other side already, ready to come in, ready to bring what it is I need. As Hunt indicates, the latch opens from the inside. I must lift that latch and let Him come in to bring His mercy and grace.

Oh, storm-tossed and sometimes weak disciple that I am, I keep on asking, seeking, knocking! Selah!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Wednesday, January 27, 2010