“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [8] 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)
As I have been reflecting and meditating this morning, I am reminded of how I generally focus on the latter parts of these promises. By this, I mean that I focus mainly on the outcome, the faithfulness of God to give, open, and reveal. This is truly important and should always be at the forefront of my thoughts. The faithfulness, goodness, and kindness of God toward me are a wellspring of hope and truth. Yet, this morning my mind came to rest on the proactive requirement of these promises. There is a requirement of initiative on my part in these actions. There is a sense that Jesus is telling me that I must put my faith, trust, and hope into action. Do I want the Father to give? I must ask in faith. Do I want the way opened for me? I must knock in faith. Do I want to find the true treasure? I must seek in faith. For it is only by putting my faith into action that these answers are promised. Do I truly believe and trust that God is inclined to hear me and respond? That is the self-examination of my heart that needs to be put in clear focus.
Over the past few years, I have been contemplating my tendency to not put initiative into asking, knocking, and seeking. I do pray and seek the Lord often but I feel as though this is mostly perfunctory with a stale rote quality. These past couple of weeks, I have been convicted about my lack of formally asking and seeking the Lord to provide for my needs and the needs of my family. My prayers tend to all circle around adoration and confession. I feel the dark presence of sin in my heart and it drives me to the cross of Christ. I know the glorious majesty of my Savior and it compels me to give praise to him. These are good and right things to pray often about but I seem to be neglecting what Jesus is teaching me in this passage.
There is a lack of putting my faith and trust into action with my prayers. It’s not that I don’t believe that the Lord will respond to my asking, knocking, and seeking. Rather, my thinking is faulty. In my drive to express my faith, I will often take the stance of being content with all that the Lord has given me. Again, this is a good and right thing to do. Where I err in this thought is that I am far too passive. I don’t truly express my desires and concerns to God and present my requests before him. I have fallen into a trap of wanting God to read my mind and provide. Can he do this? Of course, but I am missing an essential element of expressing faith through a relationship.
The Bible is full of stories where people wrestle with God in prayer as they ask, knock, and seek. There is a special bond and connection that is strengthened through the act of asking, knocking, and seeking. Putting my faith into action this way demonstrates two important qualities. First, it shows humility in understanding my weakness. Second, it shows my trust in the authority and love of God.
So where do I go from here? There is no other answer than to simply put this into practice. It means that I need to exercise my faith in all areas of life. It can’t just be theological. It needs to be practical. My faith needs to be expressed in all the areas of my life. This is what it means to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It means asking, knocking, and seeking. It means not being afraid of receiving “no” for an answer. It means that I am so content with my Father’s leading that I can come to him with every bit of worry and anxiety. I can trust him to provide a good and right answer. I can trust that he will give when I ask, that he will open when I knock, and that he will reveal when I seek. My God is a faithful, just, and loving God who desires a deep, personal, and intimate relationship with me. So I need to open my heart to him by allowing myself to express all that is within me and trust that my good Father loves me completely and truly understands me.