Ask, Seek, Knock

Wednesday 1/25/2012 4:22 AM

The Bible can be irritating to me when I read it.  Everything seems so easy.  The other day I wrote about the frustration I feel when I read about the miracles of Jesus.  He saw a problem, performed the miracle, and then everything was hunky dory and everyone praised God.  When I see problems, the problems persist, nothing seems to change and I’m left wondering if God is who he says he is and, if so, I wonder if I am an effective witness because Jesus said that his disciples would do even greater things than he did.

Today is another example of this phenomenon.  Matthew 7:7-8 says, “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.”  Simple right?  How hard can it be?  Well, I’ve been asking, seeking and knocking for the past few months and, from my perspective, I have not received or found anything and the door remains firmly shut.

The opening prayer in my devotional material included these words, “assist me to choose the way of life eternal.”  When I prayed those words the Spirit reminded me of Jesus’ words in John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”  Ironically, the asking, seeking and knocking that I have been doing of late is that I might see evidence in my life that shows that I am on the same side as God, that I know his heart and that I have aligned my life with the values of the kingdom of God.  I have also prayed that if I not within his will, that he would show me where I need to change.  When I pray that prayer, and there is nothing but silence from God, I become frustrated.

My hymn this week is Still, for Thy Loving-kindness, Lord by Charles Wesley and it describes my situation pretty well.

Still, for thy loving-kindness, Lord,

I in thy temple wait:

I look to find thee in thy word,

Or at thy table meet.

Here, in thine own appointed ways,

I wait to learn thy will:

Silent I stand before thy face,

And hear thee say, – Be still!

Be still! and know that I am God;

’Tis all I live to know;

To feel the virtue of thy blood,

And spread its praise below.

I wait my vigor to renew,

Thine image to retrieve;

The veil of outward things pass through,

And gasp in thee to live.