“You want a car? Here’s the keys!”
Upon hearing this, the teenage girl with the new driver’s license jumps for joy, showering dad with kisses.
The single mom whose car just got totaled is hugging the pastor of the church that just gifted her the car.
And the elderly couple down the street who just learned their car required more money to repair than it was worth are praising God, too!
And God loves to give good gifts to His children! And He promises to give good gifts to those who ask! “Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find, and for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8 GW)
In fact, in addressing His disciples the night before He is crucified, Jesus says, “If you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. So far you haven’t asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive so that you can be completely happy.” (John 16:23b-24 GW)
It all sounds pretty encouraging, doesn’t it? In fact, it sounds like the “name it, claim it” doctrine, and yes! There it is, right out of God’s Word!
But wait.
I’ve certainly asked for many, many things that I haven’t—yet—received! I’ve asked the Father in Jesus’ name! “Maybe Jesus doesn’t keep His promises after all?”
And this is the danger of taking texts — even two of them! — out of context! Let’s look at what Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 7: “If your child asks you for bread, would any of you give him a stone? Or if your child asks for a fish, would you give him a snake? Even though you’re evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. So how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?” (Vs. 9-11 GW).
Well from the surface it seems to give the same message, doesn’t it? God gives good gifts to those who ask Him! So we’re back with the “Why hasn’t God answered MY prayers!”
But let’s take a closer look at vs. 11: “Even though you’re evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. So how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?“
The key point here are those two words: “Good things”! Sure, if we ask for bread, God won’t give us a stone to eat. But what if we ask for something that isn’t good for us?
Look at it like this: What if your four-year-old son asks you for a car? You are good parents! Will you give your child what he asks for?
Of course not!
Nor would you give a car to someone who’s never driven before and doesn’t even have a drivers’ license. That’s just not responsible. You would be setting the asker up for failure, you’d likely put their life—and others’—in danger, to say nothing of putting the lives of everyone else on the road in danger! No, the gift of that car would not be a “good gift”!
God does tell us to ask in Jesus’ name, and He does promise to give us what we ask for, as long as it can be considered a “good gift”! Otherwise, it is like your children asking for a stone to eat or a poisonous serpent to play with, and you giving them those things!
So what about all those things I’ve asked God for that I haven’t received?
Since we know that God keeps His promises, there are only two possibilities:
1. Like the child asking for a stone to eat or a snake to play with, what I am asking for isn’t good for me! This idea is echoed in 1 John 5:14: “We are confident that God listens to us if we ask for anything that has his approval. ” (GW)!
2. Like the child asking for a car, what I am asking for a good thing, but I’m not yet ready for it! “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every matter under heaven…” (Eccl. 3:1 NASB)
What are you asking God for?
Don’t lose hope. God knows what we need, and He knows when we need it. And if it is something that can be considered a “good gift” for us, then in the proper time, God will give it!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
