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. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 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!”

THEME OF THE DAY: WHAT WOULD WE ASK FOR?  Settle into today’s scripture.  Allow the gracious heart of Jesus to speak loudly to ours.  This is amazing beyond amazing!  Our Lord gives, in the form of a command, an invitation that is frankly about as overwhelming as it can get.  He says, “Open your heart and mind. Approach Me with your requests, and it will be granted.  Seek what you want from Me, and you will find it.”  Obviously, the disclaimer is the request must be in the will of God but the illustration Jesus provides is that God is quite liberal in granting the desires of His children.  And He is good, very good, ultimate good, and always does good.

We have the same type of command and invitation from the Lord in the Old Testament with the familiar example of King Solomon – “Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.  And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.  At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you”” (1 Kings 3:3-5).

Now back to what Jesus says to us . . . “ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find.”  The command and invitation are right before us.  Right now.  Quick.  What are we asking of Him?  Are we in a challenging season of life asking for enduring strength?  Maybe there is a difficult trial upon us feeling like an avalanche burying us and we want deliverance?  Disease?  Finances?  Employment?  Prodigal children?  Depression?  All those things are to be unburdened to the Lord and asking for help in all is appropriate, but there is one petition that is above all petitions.  It is asked by David the Psalmist and sought by Paul the Apostle and are of great delight to our God to be granted.

First, David – “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

Then Paul – “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

In both men of God, the chief desire in their lives was for the Lord Himself; to behold Him in His beauty and to grow in fellowship with Him.  They simply wanted God.  And that, my friends, is the chief petition we should seek. So, when the Lord says to us, and He does, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and will find”, our first response should be, “You, Lord. I want You. More of You.”

PRAYER: Father, increase my desire for You so that it is the chief desire in my life.

REFLECTION:  The greatest gift God gives us is Himself.  Salvation delivers us from sin and self to seek God.