7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 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! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Dear God, how often do we ask what we should seek? Do we question for what we should ask? On whose door should we know? I think that a lot of times people take the view that we can ask what we want of you and, if we have enough faith you will give it to us. If we know on the door of opportunity then you will open it to us and let us live this marvelously successful life. To quote one author, we can live our best life now. But that is a total misrepresentation of this passage. Even the example that Jesus gives in the second paragraphs are “need” items like bread and fish. He didn’t say, “Which of you, if your son asks you for a toy will give him a snake?”
I was talking with someone last night and they were remarking about a thank you letter that I sent them. They said that they were touched to see the need we met for a patient. In short, a patient needed a medication, and we were able to provide it for them for about $100. Their donation helped us be able to provide for that so I let them know. They were so delighted. They were delighted to give this person some medication. In essence, some break and a fish.
How much more, then, were you delighted when we were able to do this? How much more delighted are you when we (and I mean the collective humanity “we”) help to meet our neighbors’ needs?
Father, I think the thing that is pressing on my heart the most is the suffering of some friends. Some are sick and dying. They need some bread and fish. Some have just lost someone and are mourning. They need some bread and fish. Some are unemployed and scared. Some are just facing mountains that are bigger than they feel they can climb. I can even see something in my son now that he is being pressed. He hasn’t said anything, but I can see it in him. He is overwhelmed and he doesn’t want to talk about it. I can see it in him because I can recognize it from my own past as well. Please provide all of these people, including my son, with fish and bread. Use me to provide the fish and bread, and use others to provide fish and bread as well. Wrap all of these people up in your arms and give them your provision so that they might draw closer to you.
Emails to God 