"Ask and it will be given to you . . ."   - Jesus, in Matthew 7:7


This is one of those commands that seems ridiculously not true.  It simply doesn't compute with life as we know it.  Even the explanation that follows this passage in Scripture seems to imply something we all know is not true - that asking leads to getting what you ask for.  A good dad would not give his son a stone if he asks for bread.  The implication is that he would get bread - what he asked for!

I've met with men who had at various points desperately asked God to deliver them from their sexual addiction.  They were as sincere as they knew to be and as willing to give up as they knew how to be at those points. Since the sexual sin is so obviously wrong and destructive, it would seem that God would love to grant their request.  Nothing happens. Next day, same thing.  So what happens when you ask for what you desperately need, think that someone could give it to you if they were really good and just would, and nothing happens?

Of course!  You stop asking.  When the answer is "No" over and over again, what would make a person keep asking?  Stupidity?  Ignorance?  Wishful thinking?  Belief in magic?

Seems a little tricky, perhaps, but Jesus never did say in this passage that you get what you ask for.  He only says that the best parent, as limited and sinful as they may be, know a lot about how to be good to their children.  And that if human parents know a lot about how to be good to their children and do it, how much more does the perfect Parent not only know what good gifts his children need, but gives them.  Read it for yourself:

"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!" 

The problem seems to be one of perspective and the conclusions one comes to.  Just as a parent knows better what is good for a child than the child does (there's quite a gap in perspective there), so God knows what is good for us better than we do.  And where is the biggest gap in perspective.  Between the child and the parent?  or between the parent and God?

Yes, it may seem stupid to keep asking for what we are aware of wanting (and think that any parent worth their salt would give) and not get it, especially after asking over and over.  But perhaps Jesus is simply addressing the temptation to judge God as not good if He does not give us what we are convinced we need and so desperately ask for.

What does one do with the story of a woman who through the disruption of her life through rape is now experiencing an occasional taste of true security that she never had before, ever?  It isn't supposed to work that way!!  Good should not come through evil.  She's getting an incredibly good gift (an occasional but growing peace of mind), but it shouldn't come that way, now, should it?

But it can, and does.  God is able to use anything to bring about good in our lives - sorry, that means even through the evil he deplores, yes, even our own evil.  But the only reason we would be surprised at that is because we actually believe evil is more powerful than the power of God's Love and Truth.

"Ok, God, I think I'm sorry for all the assumptions I have made about you based on my puny perspective.  Just because I don't understand how or why you work the way you do, doesn't mean its not a way that leads to experiencing the wonder of your Goodness.  I guess the alternative is my way, and I'm not really too confident that my way works very well.  So, I just might consider trusting You more fully and keep asking for what I think I need, knowing that you have my best in mind in whatever you give.  And I might consider not doing that and live with that choice awhile longer.  Thanks again for the freedom to choose and to live with my choices.  Amen"