May 26,
2003
ASK,
AND YOU WILL RECEIVE, Part II
"Ask,
and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock,
and it will be opened to you... Ask, and you will receive,
that your joy may be full" (Matthew 7:7; John 16:24,
NKJV).
"
'Knock.' We come to God by special invitation, and He waits
to welcome us to His audience chamber. The first disciples
who followed Jesus were not satisfied with a hurried conversation
with Him by the way; they said, 'Rabbi,... where are you staying...
They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with
Him that day' (John 1:38, 39). So we may be admitted into
closest intimacy and communion with God. 'He who dwells in
the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty' (Psalm 91:1). Let those who desire the blessing
of God knock and wait at the door of mercy with firm assurance,
saying, For You, O Lord, have said, 'Everyone
who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who
knocks it will be opened' (Matthew 7:8).
"Jesus
looked upon those who were assembled to hear His words, and
earnestly desired that the great multitude might appreciate
the mercy and lovingkindness of God. As an illustration of
their need, and of God's willingness to give, He presents
before them a hungry child asking his earthly parent for bread.
'What man is there among you'
He said, 'who if his son asks for bread,
will give him a stone?' (Matthew 7:9). He appeals to
the tender, natural affection of a parent for his child and
then says, 'If you then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those
who ask Him!' (Matthew 7:11). No man with a father's
heart would turn from his son who is hungry and is asking
for bread. Would they think him capable of trifling with his
child, of tantalizing him by raising his expectations only
to disappoint him? Would he promise to give him good and nourishing
food, and then give him a stone? And should anyone dishonor
God by imagining that He would not respond to the appeals
of His children?
"If
you, then, being human and evil, 'know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask
Him!' (Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit, the representative
of Himself, is the greatest of all gifts. All 'good things'
are comprised in this. The Creator Himself can give us nothing
greater, nothing better. When we beseech the Lord to pity
us in our distress, and to guide us by His Holy Spirit, He
will never turn away our prayer. It is possible even for a
parent to turn away from his hungry child, but God can never
reject the cry of the needy and longing heart."--Thoughts
From The Mount Of Blessing, pp., 131, 132.
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