A new take on a least favorite verse

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7-8

Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 and 8 aren’t my least favorite verses, but these verses are definitely not my favorite.  I can’t tell you why, but it was just not a verse that I felt connected to. This verse came up as my verse of the week, so it does need to now be a verse I need to ponder over and think about.  

However, I now also realize that, in part, my biggest problem was that I did not feel I understood the verse to its completeness.  I decided that I needed to take a deeper look at this verse and what it really means for me in my Christian journey.  

The bigger verse section discusses how God loves to bless his children.  He loves to give good gifts to his children who love him. The Lord wants to bless his children beyond what we can imagine.   This verse in and of itself is a reminder of God’s goodness. The Lord is a graceful and merciful God who wants to show love. God is good and better than we can even imagine.  

Well, this so far sounds like a dream verse.  This so far sounds like a dream that everyone should like.  It makes life sound so easy. When we have a problem, we just need to ask God and he will help us.  At the core, this verse is a reminder for us, God’s people, to pray to God, our Father. This is a reminder that God promises to grant promises and blessings upon the people who do pray. Prayer is an essential part of the Christian journey and a piece of our relationship with God.  Prayer is essentially a conversation with God, and just like our human relations, our relationship with God only becomes stronger through conversation.  

This being the case, it doesn’t make a lot of sense as to why I wouldn’t love this verse.  It serves as a reminder that God loves us and that he wants us to talk to him about our problems in our prayers.  However, I think that this is the precise reason I don’t love this verse. I want to be able to cure my problems. I want to be the one that is in control.  At the core, I don’t want to give up my control over my own life. It is the idea that I want my God to have control over my life, but I can’t bring myself to give that control over.  

The truth is that I have a great deal of pride in myself.  I sometimes have bigger pride in myself than I do in God. I, at times, believe that I am the one who should be in control.  My pride over God has been a big problem for me. I have a big belief that I am the one who should be making decisions for my life as opposed to God. 

Earlier in my blog series, I had a blog about my word of the year being Freedom.  I want to have more freedom in my life, and I think a big piece of that is that I need to be willing to give God more control of my daily life.  I need to be able to give that piece of my life that wants to control all my fears, all my choices, all my plans, and all my character over to God.  This is a part of gaining the freedom that I hope to achieve in the year of 2020. I need to be willing to give those concerns, over my fears, to God.  I need to be willing to give my control of my choices and plans to God, so I can do what God has desired.  

God may not answer my prayers and desires exactly the way that I originally planned, but that is because God actually has a better plan for us than we do.  Therefore, that is why we, including me, should be more willing to pray to God over our problems and concerns. My pride has stood in the way of my freedom of this regard. Whatever you do need is out there for you, waiting.  God is waiting to bless us, but we just need to be willing to ask, seek, and knock.