(Audio)
Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
Most of us go through phases with our appreciation of this statement of Jesus. At times it seems inspiring and hopeful. At times it seems like nothing could be further from the truth. How can we receive the hope Jesus offers and cling to it with greater stability?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your heavenly Father give good things
to those who ask him.
The first way of trust is to know the Father and his heart for us. Jesus reveals the love of the Father in his own life, death, and resurrection. This is so true that he tells Philip, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!" (see John 14:9). When we learn the Father's heart we learn for sure that he wills what is good for us. It helps us to trust that he knows better than us what that good is. It prevents the doubt of Adam and Eve that he is somehow holding out on us something which would truly be to our benefit. We need a revelation of the Father's love so strong that it remains present even when times are tough and our requests aren't answered exactly as we ask them, even though they may feel entirely necessary to us.
The second way of trust is to trust in God's timing. When we know the Father's love we realize that he should be the one who decides when we receive his gifts as well as what we receive. He wants to widen us to believe in his goodness even when we don't see it right away, even when the gratification is not immediate. Hence the verbs in the passage translate better as "Ask, and keep asking", "Knock and keep knocking", and "Seek and keep seeking." If the widow persists in asking the unjust judge (see Luke 18) how much more should we persist in asking the Father who loves us.
The third way of trust arises from thanksgiving for all God has done for us in the past. When we realize how precarious the way that led to our present was, and all that God did in us to get us this far, we are more able to trust in his plans for the future.
As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers
that you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing to you.
Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you,
O LORD, my God.
If we internalize these three ways of trust, knowing the Father's heart, trusting the Father's timing, and being thankful, we can be bold in our prayers in season and out of season, in good times and in bad.
The LORD will complete what he has done for me
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
(see Hebrews 6:19-20)
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