“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. — Matthew 7:7-12
The toughest parts of the Bible are perhaps the promises of great things which seem to be given in the form of blanket guarantees despite the reality of a world where they don’t seem to come true. This verse seems like one of them. How is it that God can give a promise like “Ask and it will be given to you”? How can he say, “Everyone who asks receives”?
We live in a world where these promises apparently aren’t true. I have prayed many prayers and have asked for many things where the answer I asked for wasn’t given. I asked, but I didn’t receive. Is that proof that God was playing a trick on us when Jesus said these words? I don’t think so.
Let’s just consider a few ways to understand these verses:
- Perhaps we have read them backwards. Perhaps Jesus doesn’t mean that all requests will be granted but that only those who ask receive. This doesn’t make sense with the use of the word “everyone” though.
- Perhaps we are reading the word “receives” wrong. Perhaps everyone who asks receives //something// even if it isn’t what was requested. This also doesn’t seem to go along with the rest of the verse.
A third option, however, may be the most reasonable. In the second half of this passage, Jesus uses the word “ask” a second time and tells us that God will give “good gifts” to those who ask him. Perhaps the issue is that we aren’t asking for the right things. Perhaps Jesus is saying that everyone who asks for what is good will receive it.
From this perspective, we can understand that if we ask and don’t get our request fulfilled, then our request was for something that wasn’t as good as whatever God actually has planned. The bottom line is that God cares for us more than we know, and that he is eager to give us good things.
BIG IDEA: Let’s be careful what we ask for but never be cautious to ask.
