Ask, Search, Knock

                The other day in our bible study time, the kids and I came across a very familiar verse.  One that I have heard hundreds of times growing up, yet through discussion with my kids, gained a very new perspective.

In chapter 7 of the book of Matthew, verses 7 & 8, Jesus is well into his famous Sermon on the Mount.  Some refer to it as God’s call to righteousness, but I like to tell my kids that it is God’s list of “Do’s and don’ts.”         

                In this particular section we are told, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.  Keep on seeking and you will find.  Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who seeks, finds.  And everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Matthew 7:7, 8.

                Now before I go any further, I must warn you, this verse is very likely to excite children when reading.  Why?  Because all they hear is the surface message; “keep asking and you will get….keep nagging and mom will finally give in…”  So after finally convincing the kids that this verse had nothing to do with IPods and Nike shoes, we dug in and learned a beautiful message.

                So often in reading this verse, we conclude that God must be telling us to pray harder, longer and more steadfast.  Although I am confident that doing the above could only benefit us, I am also very sure that it means so much more.

                When discussing the verse I asked a simple question.  “How do you ASK, SEARCH, and KNOCK for God?”  To which I received the simplest yet most profound answer.

                “I ask by praying, I search by reading my bible, and I knock by going to church.”  Now the statement may not seem profound in and of itself, but the concept surely is.

                How many of us feel as though we ask God for something and never receive it?  How many of us feel as though we have been searching for the answers to life’s burdens for years and coming up short with solutions?  And, how many of us feel we have knocked at God’s door until our knuckles are bleeding and no one answers?

                Yet, how many of us do all three of the above on a regular (and by regular, I mean daily) basis.  Even at our best, we are going to church once or twice a week, praying daily, yet our bible gathers dust on the bookshelf.

                If our burdens are to be lifted, God’s wisdom is to be granted and His direction for our lives provided, you and I must commit to ASK, SEARCH and KNOCK every day.