1 March 2012

1 March 2012


"Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you."

What can this mean?  We've asked for so many things.  So many times we've been disappointed.  Our wants have gone unmet.  It is because when he calls us to ask he means to keep asking.  He tells us to keep seeking and to keep knocking.  He tells us not to let up.  This is just what Queen Esther does:

"She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids,

from morning until evening, and said:"

She realized that she was alone and had no one to help her but the LORD.  This is so important.  Even surrounded by her trusted handmaids she knew that only the LORD could save her and her people.  Because of that she took wholehearted recourse to the LORD.  She trusted in her "heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him."  Eventually, because she persisted, she gave the LORD the opportunity to shape her desires to what they should be.  She came to desire the salvation, gladness, and wholeness of the LORD even beyond the needs of her circumstances.

In Queen Esther the LORD has made great his "name and your promise."  He desires the same sincerity from us so that he can "turn our mourning into gladness and our sorrows into wholeness."  He wants to build up strength within us as he makes our hearts more like his.  He longs to save us from everything which keeps us from him.  

Then we, together with Queen Esther can sing his praises "the presence of the angels".