“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. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:7-11
- If someone was given the power to grant you three wishes, what would you wish for?
Obviously, the correct answer here is with your first wish to ask for unlimited wishes, then you would be set for life. Of course, this is a ridiculous question; we know there is no such thing as a genie in a bottle. However, the way many of us structure our lives toward the Lord, it seems that we believe He is that mysterious genie. There is this false theology that can creep into our walk with the Lord that whispers, “Just keep God in your back pocket and pull Him out when you need to ask Him to give you something.” Unfortunately, some take it even further to teach that with just enough faith, the Lord will give us what we ask for.
- Have you ever found yourself guilty of going to God as if He were a genie in a bottle?
- Why do you think this is such a popular belief of who God is?
We know that Scripture is true, so when Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount tells us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you,” what does that promise mean? Does it mean God will give us whatever we ask from Him? Does it mean that every prayer we pray will get answered the way we want it and when we want it answered? First, we can answer with what we know it does not mean. John Piper said it this way, “If you can boss God around, you’re God.” An all-powerful God that I can boss around to do whatever I want does not seem too powerful to me. We see examples throughout Scripture of godly men and women getting a different answer to their prayer than they wanted.
- How would it impact your view of the Lord if whatever we prayed, He had to answer yes?
Deuteronomy 3:23-29 says, “And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, ‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’ So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.”
- Why was Moses forbidden by the Lord to enter the Promise Land?
We see in Scripture here the account of Moses being forbidden to enter the Promise Land due to his disobedience to the Lord. God had a different plan for his life. Instead of entering the Promise Land, he was charged with encouraging and strengthening Joshua for him to lead the people in the new land. It is hard to find someone in Scripture that we might deem more “spiritual” than Moses, yet here he is asking the Lord, and the answer is no.
- Has there ever been a time in your life that, in hindsight, you were thankful the Lord did not give you what you asked for?
I would argue that, in practice, we would not actually want God to answer yes to all of our prayers. So often, we think we are asking for a fish, but really, we are asking for a snake. We believe what we are praying for is what is best for us. I do not think many of us would pray for something we think would be harmful to us. However, in God’s infinite wisdom, He knows that what we desire at times is not best for us, so His answer is no. I look back on my life and see so many times when I thought what I was praying for was the will of God, but clearly, now I can see how that would not have been God’s best for me.
- When we feel like our prayers are not being answered, how can we shift our perspective to understand what God may be doing?
We have clearly established what we do not believe this Scripture is saying, so what is the Lord teaching us in Matthew chapter 7? It is good to read it again.
Matthew 7:7-11 records, “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. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
The movements of “ask, seek, and knock” give us a blueprint for how eagerly we should approach the Lord. We bring our cares, wants, and desires before Him in prayer, asking Him to align our will with His will. As the Scripture says, we know the Father only gives good gifts, so our prayer to Him needs to be one that asks Him to help us understand what is good for us. We need to ask Him to help us trust that He knows what is best for us.
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
- What does Scripture mean when it uses the word “good” in Matthew chapter 7 and Romans chapter 8?
- Do you struggle to trust that God is working things together for your good?
We have to be reminded that all of God’s attributes are true at the same time. He is good, He is just, He is fair, He is sovereign, He is all-powerful, He is all-knowing, and the list could go on and on. Many times in our lives, when we think of the word “good,” we are thinking of earthly comforts. Something that is good for us in the spiritual sense is something that is making us more like Christ. So, knowing that all of God’s attributes are true at the same time, we can rest assured knowing that the answer to our “asking, seeking, and knocking” is in the hands of the Almighty. There will be things that we have to go through in our lives that will not be comfortable, but they will make us more like Christ.
- What is something hard that you have gone through in your life that you see now was spiritually beneficial to you?
- How does knowing that all of God’s attributes are true at the same time help you have peace in your asking, seeking, and knocking?
God does not hide Himself from us. When we seek Him and knock at His door, He will open it. He desires to give us bread and fish even when we are unknowingly praying for a stone and a snake. We see from this Scripture that God is a loving Father who wants to hear from His kids and willingly opens the doors of grace and mercy through salvation to us. Ultimately, He has given us the greatest “good” gift of the forgiveness of our sins through our repentance and belief in the Good News of Jesus. Our Heavenly Father cares for us so much that He gives us good gifts in our lives that we did not even know we needed. So, diligently seek the Lord and His answers to your prayers, and while we ask, seek, and knock, we can rest on the truth that God’s plan for our lives is better than our own plan.