“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
This verse from the Sermon on the Mount follows some of Jesus’s strongest warnings about hypocrisy.
Don’t judge someone by a standard you don’t want them to use on you.
Don’t go after small things in someone else’s life when you have big things in your own you haven’t taken care of.
Don’t make holy things irrelevant or trite.
These promises about asking, seeking, and knocking then assume we’ll be asking, seeking, and knocking sincerely.
Don’t ask if you don’t really want an answer.
Don’t seek if you don’t really want to find something.
Don’t knock if you don’t really want in.
This past week, I’ve been playing the game Hide and Seek with my daughter. We’ve played this game at various times over the past two years, and playing it for a few days with her has given me a chance to see how much she’s grown.
She’s much better at hiding, and she’s gotten pretty good at seeking.
However, she does get into a pattern.
She’s easily frustrated if I find her, and she’s easily discouraged if she can’t find me.
I recognized this week that these two attitudes are illustrations of how we occasionally relate to God.
In the first scenario, we’re frustrated when God finds us. Think of Adam and Eve in the garden after they’ve eaten the fruit. When we hear the convicting word of God, we get frustrated about God showing up to point out our wrongdoing. We turn God into an undercover cop who’s just waiting to bust us.
In the second scenario, we’re frustrated because it seems like we can’t find God when we most need Him. It’s as though God has hidden Himself from us. He’s gone somewhere we can’t find Him, and while we’re busy seeking Him, He’s made sure He can’t be found.
My daughter’s frustration cancels out the game’s delight.
The game isn’t delightful because I might lose her or because I might never be found.
I enjoy the game most when I see our daughter hiding well and seeking well. I know she’s in the house. She knows I’m in the house. I know that soon we will find each other.
If we truly delight in God, we are never far from Him. We believe (accurately) that He is omnipresent, that He is always beside us and that because He never changes, He’s right there with us even when we feel like we’re alone.
If I ask for Him, He answers.
If I seek for Him, I find Him.
If I knock, He opens the door.
This is an incredible comfort, and it’s the kind of felt truth that I pray I will be able to see my daughter learn.