And *I* say to you, Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
The Lord says this right after telling of a man who bangs on a friend's door at midnight, and each of His three commands carries a promise. Why are the promises sure, and why does God ask us to keep pressing when He already knows the need?
There is a secret to asking rightly, and the three verbs are not one request said three times.
The way to ask rightly is the secret shown in John 15:7. "If you abide in me" — a life of dependence — "and my words abide in you" — they shape us and produce right desires — "ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." This matches Psalm 37:4: if I am delighting in the Lord, right desires will be created in me. To neglect the word of God is to neglect the true safeguard... "Ask" implies something I want to have; "seek," something I have lost; and "knock," wanting to get in. It means increased earnestness. There is more intensity in "seeking" than in "asking," and again more in "knocking" than in seeking.
A grudging man gives in at midnight. What then will God do, whose nature is to give?
The Lord illustrates it even from man, evil as he is. The appeal comes at midnight, when difficulties were greatest. Yet even then the need was urgent and nothing was there to meet it. A mere man still gets up and gives — not out of friendship, sad to say, but because of persistence. How much more should the believer count on God! "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." God gives to all life and breath and all things; it is His nature.
If God is already willing, why press Him at all? And who may come?
This is a clear climax, and it all leads to urgent prayer before God. Not that God needs it — man does. God values the earnestness of man's heart, though His own heart is open to the cry of need or distress from the very first... In Luke there is always an appeal to the feelings of the heart. Man admits what even he would do, and that illustrates the ways of God, which are far more admirable. There is also a breadth that goes far beyond the narrow bounds of Israel. "Everyone who asks receives."
The promise is open. So what holds it back?
There is no limit, except the limit that little faith may put on it. There is also a safeguard on God's side, which is not a limit: that the gift be good. And the Lord fastens His encouragements twice over: everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and the door opens to him who knocks. What a door this opens for us, and what blessing it makes possible! How rich we may all be, if we only will be!... And yet the apostle's words could apply even in the fresh early days when he wrote them: "You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions" (James 4:2-3).
Silence is the real test of this verse. What if the answer does not come for years?
The Lord may keep us waiting ever so long and yet intend all the time to grant the request at last. Delay may be meant to make the blessing greater when it comes. We are inclined to think that delay means denial; it is not always so... I remember a good man and his wife who prayed twelve years for their unconverted son. At the end of that time he turned up, clothed and in his right mind, and that in answer to many prayers.
Someone will object that God is not a man, so pressing Him makes no sense.
So the Lord shows us that we may keep on seeking. Seek without letting up. Seek as one needy man seeks from another. Someone might argue, You are forgetting the difference between God and man. There is a difference, indeed. But we are not to use it to stop pouring out our full hearts to Him... Ask as if He would yield to sheer persistence. Cling to Him as Jacob clung, and say, "I will not let You go, unless You bless me."
- Ask — the plainest word in the verse: something you want and do not have. Every child knows how.
- Seek — asking that has met silence and keeps going. Delay is not denial: one couple prayed twelve years for their son, and he came home.
- Knock — asking that has become insistent, like the man at the midnight door who will not go away. God values that earnestness, though He never needed convincing.
- Everyone — the promise names no nation, no qualification, no exception. Whoever asks, receives.
- One limit — small faith on our side. God's care that the gift is good is a safeguard, not a limit. Ask wrongly, to spend it on yourself, and the door stays shut.
For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it will be opened.
Verse 10 repeats the promise of verse 9 in a wider form: what Jesus said to His disciples now holds for everyone. It follows the parable of the neighbour who knocked at midnight, and it answers the question that story raises: why expect God to respond at all?
The word "for" shows that Jesus is giving a reason, not just repeating Himself. One writer traces that reason past the parable to God's own nature.
And the Lord illustrates it even from man, evil as he is. He pictures a man appealing at midnight, when difficulties were greatest. Even then the need was urgent and there was nothing to meet it, yet a mere man still gets up and gives. He does it not for friendship's sake, sadly, but because of persistence. How much more should the believer count on God! God gives to all life and breath and everything; it is His nature.
Asking, seeking and knocking are not three names for the same thing. Each carries its own weight.
"Ask" is found in various places in the Word of God as a special form of prayer (for example John 11:22; 14:13; Col. 1:9; Jas. 1:5). "Seek" is the upright, earnest effort to find something (see Psa. 34:4; Is. 55:6). "Knock" shows that outward obstacles and shyness can be overcome as well.
The three words rise in strength. That rise is for the times when the answer does not come.
"Ask" — every child knows how to do that. It is simply laying the need before the Father. But suppose the answer does not come; there is a delay. What then? "Seek" — there is something more there. "Knock" — it grows in persistence and urgency. We need to listen to these things from His lips.
The verse names no nation and no class. One writer finds this breadth all through Luke's Gospel.
In Luke there is always an appeal to the feelings of the heart. Luke takes man's own admission of what even he would do and uses it to illustrate the ways of God, which are infinitely more admirable and excellent. There is also a breadth here that goes far beyond the narrow boundaries of Israel. "Everyone who asks receives." So here we have the call to persistence in prayer, and the certainty of God's answer.
If everyone who asks receives, does that mean God says yes to everything we ask? One writer ties the promise to the Father Jesus had just taught them to address.
The Lord had instructed His disciples to address God as Father. The assurances He gave in verse 10 fit with this, and so do the statements of verses 11-13. The Father in heaven is not to be thought of as less interested and considerate than an earthly father. He will not give what is useless or harmful in answer to requests for necessary food. Nor, we may add, will He give what is useless or harmful if we foolishly want it and ask for it. Many an unanswered prayer is, no doubt, explained by this.
The parable works by contrast as much as by likeness. The neighbour gave the food to end the noise.
This man's request seemed unreasonable. It was a strange hour for a guest to arrive, and the friend thought it was too much trouble to provide food for him. For friendship's sake he would do nothing; he gave because of the man's persistence. He thought, "If I don't give him what he wants he will knock all night." But it is not so with our Father, who always delights to give.
Waiting is not the same as refusal. The same writer warns against reading a delay the wrong way.
The Lord may keep us waiting a very long time and yet intend all along to grant the request at last. Delay may be meant to make the blessing greater when it comes. We are inclined to think that delay means denial; it is not always so.
- Because — the "for" grounds prayer not in our persistence but in God's character: giving is His nature.
- Everyone — the promise sets no boundary of nation or class; it reaches far past the bounds of Israel.
- Everyone who asks — the promise rests on asking, seeking and knocking, three actions that rise in earnestness.
- Everyone who asks receives — but a Father who loves will not hand over what is useless or harmful, even when we want it.
- Keep knocking — the neighbour gave to stop the noise; the Father delights to give, so a delay need not mean denial.