Today we encounter a very famous passage that almost everyone who has ever read the words of Jesus has memorized: "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; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
Sounds like a great deal. Yet it isn't what it seems.
First it does suggest that when we ask and seek and knock the Father wants to do our will. The heavenly Father makes our desires part of his plan.
This should be humbling and should caution us when we seek, ask, and knock. We should make sure what we are asking for has been purified by his divine love first.
The first petition to God should always be what do I need Lord, what is it that I really want. Then his good hand shall stir our desires and show to us what we should be seeking, asking, and knocking.
Secondly, it doesn't always work. We do not always get what we ask for, or what we seek for, and sometimes the wrong door opens. God never says we will get exactly what we ask for.
Yet, whether it be the wrong answer or no answer, we must remember the Good God's providential care reaches beyond our little world. God does want our personal private space to become part of a larger scope of living and loving.
Sometimes the answers we receive are meant to stretch us forth, to reach beyond.
We should never underestimate the providence of the Good God. Though we may not see it, yet, it doesn't mean it hasn't already been set in motion.
Thirdly, we too should spend our life responding to what God ask, seeks, and knocks for. Our door must open to him; we must seek to fulfill his request.
Our prayer should be, "Father, ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and our door shall be opened."
Only with all this does this passage truly come to life and become life giving for us and those around us.
Today for lent ponder the providential care of the good God.
No comments:
Post a Comment