Matt. 7:7-11 – Ask, Seek, and Knock

Is this “name it, and claim it”? What is the condition for this getting (asking, seeking, knocking). Well, even as I write the words I realize that this passage is not about getting, but about relationship. The action of our heavenly Father giving us what we want is analogous to our relationship towards our children. From our point of view we might think that we are abandoned or that God just doesn’t hear us when our prayers seem to go unanswered. But from God’s point of view it’s about listening to the requests of his children and so we’re encourage to voice those concerns, desires, needs, just as we’d expect from our kids. It’s about the relationship, not about the “getting from God.” And, while we’re chided for not thinking that God wants to give to us, just as we want to give to our own, there is also the understanding that, just as we might say “No” so also God might say “No.” It’s not “name it/claim it,” but about the relationship between our heavenly Father and ourselves. I’m also drawn to think about Jesus’ earlier comments about our Creator’s concern for his creation (birds and grass), and the rhetorical question:

“… Your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? …. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Mt 6:25-34)