Ask, Seek and Knock
Jennifer Fletcher
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12
On Saturday afternoon something captured my girls’ imaginations, and they spent 20 minutes persisting in asking me to do a treasure hunt for them!
Having finished the online shop, I finally turned my attention to them and decided to give them what they had asked. 15 minutes later, with 12 poetic clues printed off from Etsy and hidden round the house, they began the anticipated “Hunt!”
Seeking clues, opening doors (microwave, fridge, washing machine, wardrobes!), eventually ending up at their “treasure!”
No, it wasn’t chocolate and sweets - they had had enough already - but a pack of jelly which we then made for the following day’s dessert. It was a joy and delight to watch them, as I have found to be so often the case, when I am willing and able to give them the desires of their hearts.
The previous week I had been driving on one of the crisp sunny mornings and reflecting on how I felt about my relationship with God at the moment, and a number of challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. I was thinking about how previous disappointments had “made my heart sick” and how this was impacting both on my relationship with God and my prayer life.
As I drove I was reminded of the scripture from Matthew 7: 7-11
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matthew 7: 7-1
In Luke 11:13 it ends with “... how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
I decided to just talk to God, express my disappointments, fears, doubts, and then “ask, seek and knock” regarding my hopes and desires for the year ahead; along with my longing for more of the Holy Spirit in my life.
It was definitely more of a still small voice moment, but it felt so good just to be honest with God, to recognise the impact of “hope deferred”. Yet to rise above that and in faith articulate my longings. Trust that my Father God would lead and guide me and give good things to me. To believe that He will continue to fill me with the source of life.
As you enter this week is there anything holding you back from approaching God?
What might you ask, seek out and knock on the door for?
