Have You Asked?

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:9-11

You know, we all have dreams and hopes and wishes. I like to think that every person has aspirations and ideas for the future, regardless of how old they are or where they are in life. And just like every person is different, no doubt, every hope and dream is different. It's interesting to read this verse, because sometimes I think that we do ask God for what we want. You know those prayers "please God, give so-and-so this job" or "please God, help us to pay our bills this month" or the more frivolous "God, we'd really like to be able to buy that boat" or "Dear God, you know how much we'd love that acerage for a vacation home". When I think about this verse though, I think about the desires of hy heart that I don't ask for. Things that maybe aren't realistic at this point in our lives. I would love to be debt free. Realistically, it's not going to happen for a long time as we have obligations to take care of. But I honestly don't think I've ever actually asked God to help us become debt-free. I don't know why... maybe because we got ourselves into this position, we deserve to bail ourselves out. Yet this verse says right here, that God in heaven will give good gifts to those who ask him.

So the question of the day is- have you asked God for the deisres of your heart? Why not? Or have you, and the answer was clearly a no. That happens sometimes too, so maybe that would be a reason to not ask God, because he could say no. What I like to think of though in that situation is that God is all-knowing. He knows me, he knows my heart, and he knows what lies ahead for me. God knows best, and if he says no, then it's because he has a greater idea for me, something bigger and better, I just need to be patient.

God isn't mean. He's not the mean parent who says no at every corner. He wants us to be happy, and he wants us to be full of joy. Maybe instead of hiding away the things we truly want, maybe it's time we ask God about them and see what he has to say. Maybe, he's just waiting for that. He wants us to ask him. Either way, no matter what the answer is, at the very least, you've gotten in a good talk with God, and how can that ever be a bad thing.