Absolutely Everyone!

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  MATTHEW 7:7-8

Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven.  If we take this out of context, there are times we
might wonder if God really does answer prayer.

David writes in Psalm 37:

Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun.
Be still before the Lord
    and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,    when they carry out their wicked schemes.  PSALM 37:3-7



Jesus is saying...
ASK, beg, call for, crave, desire, require that God reveal insights about His Kingdom...
SEEK after these insights, searching for the less obvious deeper understanding...
KNOCK, literally rap on God's door, imploring him to share his thoughts and wisdom... 

Jesus is saying that
absolutely everyone
who earnestly asks, seeks, and knocks 

will discover God himself and His wisdom.   

Will everyone receive the answer they are hoping for when asking about their own desires? While we may hope for this, and sometimes conclude that God isn't answering if it doesn't come through just so...  the opportunity is there to gain deeper understanding.

Whenever it's difficult to make sense of circumstances, I look to Jesus.
On the night before his crucifixion, he instructed the disciples: Pray, that you will not fall into temptation.  

Then he moved about a stone's throw away, knelt down and prayed.
     "Father, if you are willing, take this cup of suffering from me; 
      yet not my will, but yours be done."  LUKE 22:42

We know this prayer was answered.  The cup of suffering was not removed, and yet God's will was done.  Jesus fulfilled the work he came to do.  He fulfilled God's will perfectly.  

It is much easier when God's will aligns with ours, and much more difficult when our desires aren't aligning with what's happening...  

And so I pray:
Good and gracious Lord, your ways are not our ways.  You tell us that we do not have because we have not asked.  Especially when it is difficult, when in times of trouble or tragedy or disaster, may we A.S.K. you first.  May we pray for your wisdom, to see how your will continues to be fulfilled, particularly when the immediate circumstances may not seem that way.  As we pray, may we seek where and how you might call us to be in it.  We give thanks for your longsuffering-patience and your everlasting faithfulness and your love that extends through eternity.  We pray this in Jesus name, AMEN.