Monday after the Second Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on June 19, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 7:7-11 (NKJV)
7:7 “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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 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!”
Devotion
The key word is “good”: God knows how to give good gifts to those who ask. When God does not give us what we ask, does that mean God does not care? No. Does it always mean that what we asked for was sinful? Again, no. It means that God knows better than we do what is good for us. Imagine if a son asked his father for a serpent: would the father give it, or might he explain that a fish is better? In our ignorant flesh we pray for things which seem good to us, but which God knows to be problematic. So, the message is not, “God will give you anything you ask for,” but instead, “God will give you good things, which He wants you to ask for.”
We should ask God for all our wants and needs, whether He gives them or not, because it shows that we trust Him. He especially wants us to learn which things are truly good for us and to ask for those. An immature son may ask for a serpent because it is “cool”; a mature son will ask for a fish because it is food. Likewise, we ignorantly ask for many things without knowing the consequences. But the truly good things we should ask for are faith, the forgiveness of sins, and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, which are the very things He promises to give.
Prayer: O Lord, Who never failest to help and govern those whom Thou dost bring up in Thy steadfast fear and love: Make us to have a perpetual fear and love of Thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
