"ASK, SEEK, KNOCK..."

I think that we can all readily see the point of the illustration that Jesus gave in Matthew 7:9, when He said, "...what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" But, what if the son asks for a large sum of money, which he could certainly use, when what he really needs is the motivation to do better with what he has, rather than just the windfall solution to the current problem.

One of the great characteristics we must foster if we are to ever have a great prayer experience, is the largeness of soul to allow God to answer in His way and to recognize the answer when it is received. James said, in 1:17 that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." The answer to our prayers is not always, specifically, that for which we asked, but it will be the best.

God wants us to pray, fervently and persistently, as is indicated by the words, "Ask," "Seek," and "Knock," in our text, "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." Even so, we should not regard prayer as the key to a great vault in the sky where riches exists to be poured on us, frivolously, at our request. James dealt with that greedy mindset in short order with these words: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" (James 4:3).

Maybe that explains why our prayers sometimes SEEM to go unanswered. When the Lord says no, James is asking us to consider, in the light of God's great love for us, why we choose to pray for the things for which we pray.