Matthew 7:7-11

⁷ “Keep asking, and what you ask for will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find what you are looking for; keep knocking, and the closed door will be opened for you.

⁸ For everyone who keeps asking receives, and the one who keeps seeking finds, and to the one who keeps knocking it will be opened.

⁹ Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a rock?

¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

¹¹ If you then, who are evil, know how to give proper gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in the sky give good things to those who keep asking him! _________________________________________

The Sky Kingdom and persistence in prayer

Jesus had already taught that prayer needed to flow from a genuine relationship with the Father (6:5-9), and that lack of forgiveness in our other relationships could also hinder our prayers (6:10-15). Now he points out one more thing that can keep us from getting what we ask for: lack of persistence.

Jesus is not saying that God is testing us to see how strong we are, and that only the fittest will keep praying and survive the ordeal, gaining the prize. Notice, he – once again – ties prayer and its outcome to our Father in the sky and our relationship to him. The barrier we need to overcome is not our Father’s reluctance to give, but our own resistance to depending on him.

Even we who are evil want to give good things to our kids, and God’s love far exceeds ours. He asks us to keep asking because we will be tempted to give up and try to handle things ourselves. How often have we thrown out a quick prayer, then, thrown up our hands as if to say “that didn’t work” and sought our solution elsewhere. Lack of persistence in prayer is lack of faith in the one to whom we are praying. Our prayer life is not about getting stuff, it is about learning to depend on him.

The temptation is to give up too easily, and end up settling for the rocks and snakes. We don’t appreciate them as much as bread and fish, but at least we did it our way. Staying on our knees long enough to get the fish sandwich is a lesson in humility and faith in a loving, giving Father.

LORD, we want the fish sandwich! Strengthen our knees and bend our stubborn wills so that we learn to pray and keep praying. Help us resist the temptation to seek answers for our problems in ourselves or someone else besides you.