Matthew 7:7–11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are 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!”
A precious promise with a glorious explanation of how good our Father is.
But how often have these words of our Lord Jesus been taken out of context and misused. People have asked for many things and not received them, then they accuse God of not keeping his promises. This is due to taking this passage completely out of context and ignoring all that the Lord said here.
Let’s examine the passage and take all the Lord said here into account.
First, this is a call for persistence in prayer. The English translation does not bring this out, but it could have been translated, “Keep on asking… Keep on seeking… Keep on knocking.” People have often walked away from this passage very discouraged because they asked once or twice and did not receive or find or have it opened to them. However, the Lord calls us to keep on praying and not to lose heart.
Second, the Lord Jesus does not say that we can ask for whatever we want and expect to get it. The verses that come before this passage make that clear. Matthew 6:33 tells us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” What are we to seek first? The kingdom of God and his righteousness. This must be considered to properly understand Matthew 7:7-11. Are we asking God to provide something so we may spend it on our passions (James 4:3)? If so, we can be sure that we will not have it, even if it seems good to us. There is one true King in this world, and it is his kingdom we are to seek first. We are not to build our own kingdoms through his resources.
Third, the things we ask for must be good things. Notice that evil fathers do not give their sons stones or serpents when they ask for good things like bread and fish. We must ask for good things. These must be good things according to God’s standard of good. We are to seek his righteousness first (Matthew 6:33). The Word of God is the place where we find what is good. This is how we pray according to God’s will. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).
Persistent, Kingdom-Prioritized, Righteous-Desired, Asking-for-Good-Things prayer is heard and answered in God’s good time and way.
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