In the sitcom The King of Queens, Carrie gets a raise at work after praying about it in church. She starts to pray regularly, asking God for all sorts of material things. This irritates her husband, Doug, who accuses her of using God as her personal genie. “You obviously have no idea what you’re doing,” Doug says.
So what did it mean when Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you” (v. 7)? Taken in context, Jesus is giving us a principle and a promise. The context is the kingdom of heaven. All our asking and receiving are done within and in obedience to God’s will. When we ask something of God there can be no hint of evil or selfishness. Within this context, the principle and the promise is that God answers our prayers. He wants us to come to Him and ask!
Jesus structured His teaching here as two beautiful sets of parallelisms. The first set is the imperative verbs “ask,” “seek,” and “knock,” followed by the matching positive results of “given,” “find,” and “opened” (v. 7). The second set gives the reasons (v. 8). The verbs used—“asks,” “seeks,” and “knocks”—are followed by the same matching positive results—“receives,” “finds,” and “opened.”
The verbs in verse 7 indicate repeated action, that is, persistence or perseverance in prayer, with an underlying faith in the Father’s wisdom and love. Repetition does not imply babbling (Matt. 6:7) but persistence. This is the way it works in God’s kingdom. We can pray for anything, resting trustfully in the fact that He knows what is best for us and will do what is best for us. The right attitude is always “Your will be done” (Matt. 6:10).
Go Deeper
What is on your prayer list right now? Do these items reflect the heart of God or merely a personal wish list? Are you asking according to God’s will?
Pray with Us
You are above all, Lord, and yet You hear us. Align our hearts with Your will, so our prayers are in obedience to You. We trust You to do what is best, even when we don’t understand.
Knock and the door will be opened to you.Matthew 7:7
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