“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 (ESV).
Jesus
used three strong verbs in this teaching about persistence in prayer: ask, seek, knock. And in the Aramaic language in which Jesus
spoke, the commands are in the aroist tense, which is more understandably
written, “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.” By definition, aroist means an inflectional
form of a verb which denotes simple occurrence of an action without
completion. In other words, it is an
action that continues. As a
substantiation of the admonition of continuing to ask, seek and knock, Jesus
gave two parables to undergird persistence in prayer. One is of the importunate widow as recorded
in Luke 18:2-5. In it a poor widow came
repeatedly before a judge to ask for protection against an opponent. At first the judge was reluctant to make the
order necessary for her protection, but because of her insistence, the
protection was finally granted. The
second parable is sometimes termed “the three loaves,” or “a friend’s request
at midnight.” This story, recorded in
Luke 11:5-8 tells of a friend who, because unexpected guests arrived from a
long journey and he did not have bread to feed them, went at midnight insisting
that his neighbor share bread. Because
of his insistence, the neighbor got up and gave bread to the one who asked
it. Then Jesus continued in Luke’s
account to give the teaching on persistence in prayer: “Ask, seek, knock.”
God
always answers urgent prayer. But the answer
may not come as the asker, seeker, knocker expects. Just as good, responsible earthly parents
seek to give good gifts to their children, sometimes as they, God must be
discretionary in His answer. To grant
everything children ask of parents would be what we commonly term
“spoiling” (or over-indulging)
them. This practice is not good in the
character-building process, because it teaches children that things come easily
and there is no need to work for or wait for results. To obtain what we ask for, we must first
conform our will to God’s will.
Oftentimes in this process of God’s granting our prayers, His answer is
even greater and more rewarding than what we asked for in the beginning. Personal testimony is often helpful to others
in showing the truth of scripture. In
retrospect, I remember how God answered prayers of mine so many times in ways
beyond what I asked or imagined. I
always liked school and enjoyed studying.
My mother died when I was only fourteen years of age, I had
unprecedented responsibility in a farm family to assume duties of housework,
cooking, looking after a younger brother. The tasks seemed formidable and endless, and
could I continue my high school education—and even go to college—with the
responsibilities that were suddenly upon me?
Not only was I able to continue school, but even the added duties were
working to grow me into a resilient and determined person, and at the same time
one who daily went to the Lord for needs (and I will admit sometimes petty
requests in prayer). But in God’s
omnipotence and omniscience, He answered. These characteristics about my
powerful heavenly Father I didn’t know as a teenager, but I was learning about
a powerful God who was ever with me. He was laying foundations not only for the
immediate accomplishment of high school but of college and graduate school and
beyond. He knows what we need, even
before we ask, but like the loving heavenly Father He is, He wants us to keep
on asking, seeking, knocking. He
delights in answering our prayers in ways that are always best for us. God is so good; to God be the glory!
