“Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone
who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be
opened.
“Which of you, if his 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 very often the first two verses are
read without the context of the last three. Many people point to verses seven
and eight and argue that they have asked for things before that they did not
receive. However, when Christ told us, “Ask and it will be given to you,” He
was careful to remind us that even us, who are sinners, give good gifts to our children. When we ask, though we may think it a good
thing, many times the thing we ask for is actually a snake that would cause us
harm instead of good. Because only God can see the entire picture, when God
says no, He says it out of love so that we do not bring harm to ourselves.
However, as we grow closer to Him, we begin to get a glimpse of what is truly
good for us and our prayers begin to change from snakes to fish.
