Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
The temptation of any verse of promise is to take it out of context and apply it as best suits us. This is the plague of humanity: to take a promise of God and interpret it for our own kingdom.
I spent much of my life attempting to build my own kingdom. I worked harder than anyone I knew to build it from the ground up. My efforts were even made in the name of the Lord, but the Lord saw through my charades.
I prayed prayers in earnest, finding frustration as the “needs” of my life remained unmet.
This passage comes on the tail of teaching people to pray, reminding us of which desires qualify as “needs” and which do not. It comes in the context of the description of the Kingdom of Heaven and that we do not just serve a King, but the King and He is our Father.*
The next couple of verses introduce the obvious willingness of a father to provide for the needs of His children. He promises the “yes” of God to the cry for salvation and provision.
Too often in life my cries have been for luxury, escape from difficulty, and status. Seldom did I go to God and say, “Lord, please give me a life of luxury, ease, and status that makes me feel accepted and valuable.” I prayed prayers that looked righteous, but in the root of my prayers lived cries of brokenness for healing coupled with the sin of attempting to meet my needs outside of God.
If I were honest, I would have prayed, “God!! Give me the ability to heal myself through created things and give me what I need to build my own kingdom. I’ll tell people it’s for you. I promise!”
God promises to meet our needs, and to answer those prayers that advance His Kingdom inside of us and in this world. Within the promise of Jesus is also the invitation to be Kingdom people who are about their Father’s business.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to ask God to examine your heart and point out the real motivations to your prayers. Perhaps God wants to work with you to do miracles to advance His Kingdom. Maybe God is asking you to lay down your attempt to build your own kingdom. Maybe God wants you to ask Him as a good Father to meet your needs and to give up trying to work for them as an orphan.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 169-172, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 7:7-12) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).