Q: Matthew 7:7-8 says, Ask, and it shall be given you, and so forth, but many people have asked God for this or that and didn't get it. Doesnt that disprove this passage?
A: No. I think that if I could assemble Jesus sermon-audience and ask for a show of hands, asking, May I see the hands of everyone who thinks that Jesus means that you can ask for anything, and as long as you think its a good request, God will give it to you?, nobody would raise a hand. Its after people isolate this verse, and take it to mean what theyd like it to mean ~ that whatever we ask for, God will give us, like SuperSanta ~ that they proceed to feel disappointed with it. But the disappointment rests upon the misinterpretation, not the true content and meaning of the statement.
The statement is framed in the context of how to treat other people -- on one hand, 7:1-5 warns against hypocritically judging others, and on the other hand, 7:6 warns against wasting Gods resources on dogs or swine, which implicitly calls for some discernment.
The idea here is not that all our well-intended requests to God will be automatically granted. Jesus, having raised a question in the minds of His listeners -- How can we make spiritual discernments about people without becoming hypocritical judges? -- answers that question by saying that God will provide discernment for those who ask/seek/knock for it, as He provides many other good things.
Such discernment is a form of wisdom, and true wisdom is an aspect of the Holy Spirit. The parallel-passage in Luke 11:9-13 shows that discernment from the Holy Spirit is what Jesus has in mind; Hes not suggesting that prayer is a blank check. James 1:5, by the way, probably is based on the same saying of Jesus (quite a lot of statements in James are reflections of statements in Jesus sermons, especially the Sermon on the Mount).
Now, there is another passage -- Mark 11:24 -- in which Jesus tells His disciples that Whatever things you ask for when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them, and this statement is not linked to wisdom/discernment but is put to Jesus disciples much more generally. The answer to the Isnt-This-A-Blank-Check objection about that passage is not the same as the answer to this one. But thats a question for another day.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: No. I think that if I could assemble Jesus sermon-audience and ask for a show of hands, asking, May I see the hands of everyone who thinks that Jesus means that you can ask for anything, and as long as you think its a good request, God will give it to you?, nobody would raise a hand. Its after people isolate this verse, and take it to mean what theyd like it to mean ~ that whatever we ask for, God will give us, like SuperSanta ~ that they proceed to feel disappointed with it. But the disappointment rests upon the misinterpretation, not the true content and meaning of the statement.
The statement is framed in the context of how to treat other people -- on one hand, 7:1-5 warns against hypocritically judging others, and on the other hand, 7:6 warns against wasting Gods resources on dogs or swine, which implicitly calls for some discernment.
The idea here is not that all our well-intended requests to God will be automatically granted. Jesus, having raised a question in the minds of His listeners -- How can we make spiritual discernments about people without becoming hypocritical judges? -- answers that question by saying that God will provide discernment for those who ask/seek/knock for it, as He provides many other good things.
Such discernment is a form of wisdom, and true wisdom is an aspect of the Holy Spirit. The parallel-passage in Luke 11:9-13 shows that discernment from the Holy Spirit is what Jesus has in mind; Hes not suggesting that prayer is a blank check. James 1:5, by the way, probably is based on the same saying of Jesus (quite a lot of statements in James are reflections of statements in Jesus sermons, especially the Sermon on the Mount).
Now, there is another passage -- Mark 11:24 -- in which Jesus tells His disciples that Whatever things you ask for when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them, and this statement is not linked to wisdom/discernment but is put to Jesus disciples much more generally. The answer to the Isnt-This-A-Blank-Check objection about that passage is not the same as the answer to this one. But thats a question for another day.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
