What do you want?

‘Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking. And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks.’ (verses 8-10)

Read Luke 11:1-13

When I’m grocery shopping I often run into kids pleading with their parents to buy some treats. Sometimes the parents give in, at other times the pleas last until the family has passed the checkout or something else has grabbed the kids’ attention.

It’s not good for children always to get what they want. Kids have to learn to distinguish between passing fancies and true longings. Sometimes they need to wait or even work for their wishes to be fulfilled. Of course, if kids are always denied their wishes, they’ll start to question their parents’ love.

God makes an amazing promise to his children: ‘If you keep asking, then I will give it to you’. He won’t spoil us by bowing to our every whim, but he will listen to our desires and give us what we long for. Our problem is that we often don’t know what we really need or long for, so all our pleas last only until something else has grabbed our attention.

What do you truly long for?

Lord, you’ve promised to answer my pleas. Teach me to know my longings and to keep asking you for them. Amen.

by Jörg Ernst, in ‘Renewed Hope for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2000)

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