“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. (Matthew 7:07-08, NKJV).
Ask, seek, knock. Literally, keep on asking, seeking, knocking; continuous actions.
The Lord is not bothered by our imposing upon Him, unlike we parents sometimes are with our children. He desires that we live by faith in acknowledged dependence on Him, recognizing that all good gifts are from above. He delights in giving us the desires of our heart, but in order for that to occur we need to be in what some have called a position of blessing. This means that for us to receive, the response cannot in any way be interpreted as a reward for wrong behavior. This is an act of love on His part, not restriction for the sake of control, or killing joy.
Good and loving parents operate in the same way, though imperfectly. We want for our children what is best for them, not necessarily what they want the most at a given moment. Yet, it delights us to provide for those in our care the things which give them joy. But it is foolish to do so indiscriminately, lest a wrong or deleterious message be transmitted; an incorrect lesson learned.
That is why, oftentimes, we must withhold, we must not comply, we must appear uncaring or worse. This is especially true for a child not yet mature enough to understand the full picture, the whole ball of wax. We Christians are sometimes like that little one who simply cannot comprehend why Daddy is being so mean! In reality, meanness is as far from the correct interpretation as it is possible to get.
At the same time, Jesus is encouraging us to continuously ask, seek and knock, and guarantees that a child of God who does these things in faith will be responded to in precisely the best way possible, “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." This is a glorious promise of divine responsiveness, beyond anything we have any right to expect or demand. The "catch", if it can be correctly called a "catch", is that what we receive, or find, or have opened, is sometimes something entirely unlike our original request.
We may ask for healing for ourselves or a loved one, and instead receive bereavement. We may seek a way out of a trial, only to be embedded much more deeply. What may be behind the door that is opened is something totally unexpected. That is because God is a loving and perfect Father. We may not understand that the death of someone is, in fact, healing, but God knows. The trial that we futilely try to escape is exactly that which, if endured, will bring the most blessing to us and others. We don't know and understand these things because we can't know. We are incapable of seeing the end from the beginning. We don't have the full picture. Our view is limited and finite and fraught with misinformation, misunderstanding and self-will.
But we can, by faith, trust Him, and trust in Him. Otherwise, the disappointment might be too much to bear and we mistakenly turn away from the only source of all light and life and love. That is unthinkably tragic, but if we are truly His, He will not let us turn away completely, or forever.
I believe that the measure of faith that each has been dealt is broadened and deepened and strengthen by use and experience. What, as a young Christian, we might not know or trust completely, becomes an unshakable foundation of certainty through continued fellowship with the Lord as we mature in Him. And part of that continued fellowship, that living in the light of Christ, is exactly what Jesus exhorts here: keep on asking, seeking, knocking. Not because He doesn't respond, but because He guarantees a response; a right and proper response, customized for us at that moment, and for our benefit eternally. That is the kind of God He is, but the only way to know that is to live it, and keep on living it.
That is why the following parable in the gospel of Luke is so instructive, and illustrates the same teaching.
“Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ “And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, ‘yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? (Luke 18:3-7, NKJV).
The unrighteous judge disregarded the widow's entreaties at first because he was indifferent and she was a nobody. But she kept at it, refusing to rest until she received the response she needed. Eventually she wore down this cold-hearted, corrupt and unethical man by her persistence, and obtained what she sought from him. Jesus' point, and this is key, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not… " . The conclusion is inescapable. If even this despicable person in authority responded because of the woman's indefatigable requests, how much more would God, the ultimate righteous judge, respond.
Our Lord and Savior cares for us more than we can ever begin to comprehend this side of Heaven. For this brief span of time that we are alive on the earth, we may not always see it or think it, but when we doubt, all we need do is look, really look, at the extremes Christ has gone to in order to provide us with eternal blessing. He became one of us, to live among us, to show us the Father, and to die in our place, so that we could live forever in His presence.
By continually, asking and seeking and knocking, our faith is exercised and strengthened and matured, and we come to know Him ever more intimately, seeing His loving hand in our lives ever more clearly.
