Luke 11:9
“And I tell
you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find…”
I once asked for a toy
robot as a gift on my birthday. I was
really excited at that time. But after
opening all the gifts, what I got was some coloring books and pictorial
storybooks. I really felt frustrated and
started crying. My mother approached me
and told me that the robot I want is not available at that time. She just encouraged me to start coloring the
pictures and reading the stories. I may
have totally forgotten about the toy robot, but it still gets back to me, once
in a while.
In our gospel today, Jesus emphasized the
importance of asking through praying. Prayer
is a simple ordinary part of human life, as natural as the relationships
between friends or between parents and children. We may not always get what we want, but be
assured that we always get what we need from God’s point of view. He may not give us a scorpion if we ask for
an egg, but He would also give us more than an egg! Just be trusting in Him that He knows better
than all of us combined.
Similarly, Jesus encouraged people to be
persistent in prayer, to keep asking. It
is important to understand the difference between faithful persistence and
manipulation. The analogy with the child
asking a parent can break down at this point.
Children can be manipulative.
Christian prayer is distinguished from
magic precisely at this point. It is
never manipulative, always trusting. We
must trust God to decide what is good. Prayer
is not mechanical, but interpersonal. We
exercise our freedom in a relationship and expect the other person (or God) also
to respond in freedom.
Let us pray +
Almighty Father, thank You for hearing my
prayers and tending to the desires of my heart, answering my prayers, and doing
so in ways beyond my hopes. I pray that others will turn to You and do
the same, praying about whatever is in their hearts and minds, so that You can
reveal Yourself to them in awesome ways, too.
I pray these things to You, in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and
Savior; and in the love of the Holy Spirit.
Amen +
Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
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