Thursday of the First Week of Lent – Feb. 25, 2010
Matthew 7:7 – 12
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your 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.”
Jesus is not prescribing a formula for success in prayer – as if there were such a thing! He is describing the tensions that are held in prayer. He invites us to hold the tensions between asking and receiving, seeking and finding, knocking and entering. Each pole has its place in our prayer, in our relating to God.
You might say that there is a time to ask of God, as well as a time to open oneself to God in order to receive what God wants to give. There is a time to seek relentlessly, and a time to celebrate that which has been found. There is a time to knock on many different doors, and a time to see which ones might open to us, then walk through them.
In all, the three pairs remind us that prayer does not run in one direction only. Prayer is not merely about our bending God’s ear for what we want. We can ask all we want, but if our hands are not open to receive what is given already, we’ll miss a significant part of life.
We can seek all we want, but if we cannot find what God has already placed within us and immediately around us, we’ll overlook delight that is intended for us.
We can knock on the door until our knuckles are bloodied, but if we won’t walk through the door God has opened wide already, we’re liable to miss our fullness.
Jesus gives us insight into the nature of this God we encounter in prayer. God gives. God gives gifts. God gives good gifts.
I often suggest that a chief characteristic of God is generosity. God is extravagant. God spends God’s Self freely, giving over and beyond what we could imagine or hope for. This is the God we meet in prayer, the God who already is pouring God’s Self out into us, others, and the world.
In prayer we are not begging God to do that which is counter to God’s nature. Prayer is not heavenly arm-twisting. God gives generously, extravagantly, gratuitously.
Prayer may challenge us most as an act of receiving what God has given already, a process of finding what God has uncovered within us, and the courage to walk through the open doors that God has provided already.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your 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.”
Jesus is not prescribing a formula for success in prayer – as if there were such a thing! He is describing the tensions that are held in prayer. He invites us to hold the tensions between asking and receiving, seeking and finding, knocking and entering. Each pole has its place in our prayer, in our relating to God.
You might say that there is a time to ask of God, as well as a time to open oneself to God in order to receive what God wants to give. There is a time to seek relentlessly, and a time to celebrate that which has been found. There is a time to knock on many different doors, and a time to see which ones might open to us, then walk through them.
In all, the three pairs remind us that prayer does not run in one direction only. Prayer is not merely about our bending God’s ear for what we want. We can ask all we want, but if our hands are not open to receive what is given already, we’ll miss a significant part of life.
We can seek all we want, but if we cannot find what God has already placed within us and immediately around us, we’ll overlook delight that is intended for us.
We can knock on the door until our knuckles are bloodied, but if we won’t walk through the door God has opened wide already, we’re liable to miss our fullness.
Jesus gives us insight into the nature of this God we encounter in prayer. God gives. God gives gifts. God gives good gifts.
I often suggest that a chief characteristic of God is generosity. God is extravagant. God spends God’s Self freely, giving over and beyond what we could imagine or hope for. This is the God we meet in prayer, the God who already is pouring God’s Self out into us, others, and the world.
In prayer we are not begging God to do that which is counter to God’s nature. Prayer is not heavenly arm-twisting. God gives generously, extravagantly, gratuitously.
Prayer may challenge us most as an act of receiving what God has given already, a process of finding what God has uncovered within us, and the courage to walk through the open doors that God has provided already.
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