What did Jesus mean when He said "Ask and you shall receive"?

If in verse 6 the ungodly are seen to be in no state to receive the things of God, for they do not ask; we, on the other hand, are encouraged to ask and receive. This dependent, concerned state of soul is that which the Father delights to answer. Each of these stages becomes more insistent, "ask," "seek" and "knock"' Such reality of exercise is precious to God, and there is no doubt of a favorable answer: "it shall be given," "ye shall find," "it shall be opened. Let us remember however that it is the "holy things" and "pearls" that are to be our prime desire.

Verse 8 insists that everyone who asks receives, etc. This is manifestly seen in the prospering of souls who are in earnest. The Lord does not say or infer that we shall get everything that our fleshly nature desires. James 4:3 effectively reproves that suggestion. Still, earthly fathers are concerned for their children's needs, usually. If a child asks bread, will he be given a stone? or if a fish, will he be given a serpent? No father is likely to be so callous as this. The stone is useless, but the serpent is dangerous. On the other hand, if a child asked for a serpent, what father would give it to him? Why would we ever think of asking for what is useless or harmful?

Though our own very nature is contaminated by sin, yet we know enough to give good things to our children. How much more should we expect our Father, who loves us perfectly and who knows perfectly what is good for us, to give good things to those who ask Him.

The Lord had previously given His disciples instructions as to prayer, but in the verses we now come to they are very blessedly encouraged to pray. "Ask, and it shall be given you" (verse 7). Oh, if we always acted on it! The apostle James says, "Ye have not because ye ask not," and he also adds, "Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (4. z, 3). Now the way to ask rightly is the secret shown in John 15:7. "If ye abide in me" a life of dependence — "and my words abide in you" — they are formative and produce right desires — "ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." And this corresponds with Psalm 37:4, because if I am delighting in the Lord, right desires will be created. Neglect of the word of God would be neglect of the true safeguard. "Ask" implies something I desire to have; "seek" something I have missed, and "knock" wanting an entrance. It means increased importunity. There is more intensity in "seeking" than in "asking;" and again, in "knocking" than in seeking.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Here it is our dealings with God. We are taken back to the section on prayer, and reminded of the hungering and thirsting of the fourth Beatitude. There were those who asked amiss, that they might use it for pleasure (James 4:3); others sought, but not in faith (John 6:34); and some will knock to be refused admission (Matt. 25:11); but the Lord encourages His own to simple direct dealings with their Father in heaven. This is the opposite to all vain repetition, and teaches that the Lord's disciples were not bound to the recitation of the form of words He had put before them in the previous chapter, but free to voice the deep feelings of their souls to God and to present their needs to Him. The illustration drawn from human relationships was calculated to encourage them, for it shows the delight of God in giving. If man in spite of his fallen condition recognizes the claims of nature, and fathers after the flesh give good gifts to their children, what shall we say of the giving God? He it is who delights to be enquired after, and "He is a rewarder of them who seek Him out" (Heb. 11: 6).

If such is the way of selfish, ease-loving man, how much more will the God of all grace hearken to those who cry to Him! He is not weary; He never slumbers nor sleeps; He is full of goodness and compassionate care. "I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you"287 — an evident climax, all tending to urgency of supplication before God: not as if God needed it, but man does; and God values the earnestness of man's heart, although His own is open to the cry of want or distress from the very first. But we know that there are hindrances from other causes, and that the Lord has Himself told us of a kind (speaking of evil spirits) that goes not forth but by prayer and fasting. There we have the highest degree of the soul's abstraction from all else, giving itself up to God's power in order to defeat the devil. "For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it will be opened." There is always in Luke, not only an appeal to the feelings of the heart, and man's own concession of what even he would do in order to illustrate the ways of God, infinitely more admirable and excellent, but there is also a comprehensiveness which goes far beyond the narrow bounds of Israel. "Every one that asks receives." Thus we have here the call to importunity of prayer, and the certainty of God's answer.287a

But this is again enforced on the ground of the relationship of a child with a father. "Of whom of you that is a father shall a son ask bread, and [the father] shall give288 him a stone? or also a fish, and instead of a fish shall give him a serpent? or if also he shall ask an egg, shall give him a scorpion?" How contrary to the feelings of a parent, to mock when he affects to give! to give what is injurious instead of what is good! Impossible that a father, speaking now ordinarily of any father, would be guilty of such ways. "If, therefore, ye, being289 evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will the Father who [is] of heaven290 give [the] Holy Spirit291 to them that ask him." In the Gospel of Matthew it is "give good things to them that ask him."291a "Bread . . . or also." These words, read by Tischendorf, are questioned by Treg., relegated to marg. by W. H., and rejected by Weiss and Blass, after B Sah. Arm. Origen (from Matthew).

It would be a mistake, in our judgment, to adduce this Scripture as urging importunity in prayer. It is quite true that the same exhortations are found in Luke in another connection (Luke 11:5-13), but even there they only flow out from an illustration of importunity. The difference of dispensation has also to be remembered, for since Pentecost it would not be according to truth to pray for the Holy Spirit, as in Luke, seeing that He now dwells in believers, and is bestowed upon all who receive the forgiveness of sins through faith in the efficacy of the finished work of Christ. It will be observed that in Matthew "good things" are what are sought, and not the Holy Spirit; and these "good things," we cannot doubt, especially in their application to Christians, are heavenly blessings. Taking it thus, it will be at once seen that importunity is out of the question; that it is rather the expression of an ever-increasing energetic confidence in the Father for the blessings on which, through grace, the heart is set. Knowing, that is, that it is His mind to bring us into the enjoyment of all that Christ has secured for us, the soul will wait on with purpose and energy until the prayer has been answered. There is, perhaps, even more than this as implied in the terms used; for after the exhortations and their connected promises (" Ask; and it shall be given," etc.), the Lord adds as encouragement, "For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Asking then for heavenly blessings, they are received, in the sense of being made good to the soul; seeking for them with true purpose of heart (compare Psalm 27:4), they are found, they are sought for and discovered, the true heavenly portion of the saint is apprehended; and, lastly, to him that knocketh it shall be opened; the heavenly door is, as it were, opened, and the soul enters into its proper sphere, the sphere where Christ is, where He is everything, and where His glory fills the scene. If, therefore, this Scripture goes down and begins with the first desires of the believer, it also rises up to and includes his most exalted blessings. It indicates, at the same time, the royal and only pathway into heavenly enjoyment.

Then He speaks of man going to a friend at midnight and asking for three loaves. "And he from within;" these are pregnant words! Are you "within"? It is a dangerous condition in this world. What I mean by that is, losing your sympathies with the joys and sorrows around you. So the Lord shows out God's grace, on the dark ground of that man's selfishness. You have not to "ask" and "seek" and "knock"; that is importunity. But "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." See the divine readiness in answer to human necessities. Never say importunity is needed to move God. At your leisure read Daniel 10. For "three full weeks" Daniel was chastening his heart before God, and no answer was given. At the end of that time the answer came; and how? The angel told him that as soon as ever he began to pray, he was heard; but a certain transaction that was going on in heaven, hindered the answer. He went on in importunity for three weeks, but as soon as ever he had prayed, he was heard. So you may have been praying for a long time, and getting no answer, but be sure the interval has been well employed; if not in heaven, in the chastening of your spirit. This beautifully illustrates what we get here. There is no reluctancy in God; not that selfishness to be overcome that there was in the man at midnight; but there may be reasons to delay the answer, and when it does come, it may be in a way you are little prepared for. Paul prayed three times, and the thorn was not taken away; but the answer came at last, and in a way he had not expected. The thorn was left until the day of his death, but he was given grace by which he could triumph in it.

The Lord then had much to add in encouraging the persistent, believing prayer of His own. If one had a friend (not simply a neighbor) and even at midnight went to him to request the loan of three loaves of bread because of an emergency, is it likely that his friend would excuse himself from helping because it would disturb his own comfort? The Lord answered, that if even on the basis of friendship the friend might not be disposed to help at that hour, yet simply because of one's persistence -- his earnest insistence in asking -- his friend will respond (v.8).

It is true that a man may respond simply because he does not want to be bothered by constant asking. This is not God's attitude, but He desires to see in our prayers the reality of earnestness rather than just giving up because no immediate answer to our prayer is forthcoming.

In verse 9 He encouraged an increasing urgency in prayer, not only to ask, but to seek, and more still, to knock with the insistence of one who has serious need. Yet all three degrees of urgency will be answered, for God cares for us in perfection of love. Everyone who asks receives. This supposes the asking to be in subjection to the will of God, for some asked and did not receive because they asked amiss (James 4:3). The one who seeks finds: this too must be genuine, honest seeking the blessing of God, as is also the case with knocking. The door will be opened where faith impels one to knock. In all of this it is faith that is encouraged.

The Lord also encourages His disciples through the affection which is implanted in a parent's heart. If their Father makes His sun rise on evil and good, and sends rain on just and unjust, how does He feel toward His sons? His love surely goes out to them in every request that is for their good, and withholds only what their foolishness asked that must do them harm. Hence He says, Or what man of you, whom his son shall ask for a loaf, will he give him a stone? and if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? Who would not repudiate such mockery of a son's hunger? Thence He draws the conclusive words for their hearts, If ye then, being wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father that is in the heavens give good things to those that ask Him?

But if we are to be givers, we must first receive, and of this verses 7-11 speak. To receive we must draw near to God — asking, seeking, knocking. A response from our Father is certain. If we ask for necessary things we shall get them, for He will not give us instead something worthless like a stone, or injurious like a serpent. We may rest assured that He will give us "good things," for His Fatherhood is of heaven. His standard therefore will not fall below that of earthly fatherhood. We may apply Isaiah 55:9 to this, and say that as the heavens are higher than the earth so are His Fatherly thoughts higher than our thoughts. We of necessity cannot come up to His standard. Hence in verse 12 the Lord did not then demand of His disciples a standard above that set by the law and the prophets.

Well, it was the joy He had in His Father's love which kept the Son amid all the ignominy and the shame of His sorrowful life down here. The love of the Father filled His heart and He does long for us to have this joy. (See John 16:19-24.) How full these verses are of joy. He says, Ye shall weep. Why? Because you love Me and you will weep for My absence, but your sorrow will be turned into joy because you have Me back again, and far nearer than I ever was. The Son has not gone further away by going to the Father, on the contrary He has come much nearer. He is a great deal nearer now than when the disciples handled Him with their hands, and when John leaned upon His bosom. There is a far nearer place for you, if you will have it. Those were the figures, you may have the blessed reality figured by that handling and that leaning. How marvellous, the Father Himself loves you, not pities you, nor is gracious to you, but He can find His joy and pleasure in you. It is the same delight that He, the Father, found in His own Son. It is so blessed, so wonderful. There is nothing which can be compared to it. It is outside all the sorrowful circumstances of earth. This love takes us to the place where none of these things ever come: the place of the infinite love of the Father to the Son, outside all the failure and the strife down here, and the sense of this love fills your soul while you walk down here. Alas! how very little we know, it is such a very wonderful joy. Then He goes on, "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." It is identification with the Son, the promise is absolute. There is no condition there except that you ask in the Son's name. These truths are so blessed and we lose so much by refusing entrance into them. The world seeks to rob us of this joy by presenting what will allure the flesh.