Seeking God
April 28,
2013
Matthew 7:7-11
“Keep on asking, and you will
receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking,
and the door will be opened to you. For
everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who
knocks, the door will be opened. “You
parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone
instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do
you give them a snake? Of course not! So
if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
What is God like?
These verses are a call to prayer.
Prayer is a relational act. It’s
a two way communication between us and God.
That means effective prayer will form and develop a relationship between
us and God. This relationship is the
bedrock of the Christian. It is from
this relationship that we understand our purpose, find meaning in life, and
discover salvation. If we are too
intimidated to approach God in prayer a healthy relationship will not form.
So how do we break the ice in prayer? First, Jesus wants us to know something about
how God sees us. He compares God to a
parent, calling him a heavenly father.
If God is the parent than we are his children. As his children, we understand that God wants
what is best for us. So when we come to
God we are coming to one who knows us, knows what is good for us, and loves us
enough to listen no matter what we might have to say.
Second, God does not play tricks on his people. Jesus compares a loaf of bread to a
stone. In this time, a loaf of bread and
a stone would look similar. The Lord
does not lead us down false paths. He will
not replace bread with stone. He will
not confuse a fish for a snake. He does
not turn a gift into something harmful.
We can trust the Lord. He gives
good gifts.
Third, the Lord wants us to seek him. He wants us to ask. He wants us to knock. He wants us to come after him. He wants to hear our prayers and he will
answer. He will respond. The seeker finds, the one who asks receives,
and the one who knocks is let in. Notice
that we are not promised to get exactly what we want when we want. We are simply promised access to God. This access is sufficient. The only way to fail here is to not ask, not
seek, and not knock. What keeps us from
seeking God?
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