Like the first, so this second lesson also is found in the Sermon on the Mount. The first teaching stressed the necessity of sincerity and singleness of motive in prayer (Matt. 6:5, 6) and warned against the foolish views of the Gentiles, who thought that the effectiveness of prayer lay in the multitude of words--in which connection the Lord gave them the simple pattern of prayer, known generally as the "Lord's Prayer" (Matt. 6:7-15).^*

      The second lesson on Prayer is given in Matt. 7:7-11.

      "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

      With that follows an earnest assurance:

      "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

      These words are perfectly plain and clear; even a little child can understand them. Yet do they not puzzle us? Many shake their heads and wondering ask, What does it mean? That we can just ask and receive? Surely the matter could not be so simple as that. Haven't we all, at one time and another, asked and failed to receive? There must be some conditions, some if's and but's behind this promise. If the Lord meant that we could simply ask and receive, why are prayers unanswered? So straightway we begin to cast about for reasons to explain this strange contradiction, and we pile up if's and but's so many as to snow the Lord's promise clean under, and practically nullify it. But look at it again: "Ask and it shall be given you . . . for every one that asketh receiveth. . . ." Why if He had not meant it would the Lord have said such a thing? In threefold repetition, and three times repeated assurance He declares the sure efficacy of our prayers; and, as if that had not been enough, he re-inforces it with a similitude drawn from human parental love and applied a fortiori to the love of our Father in heaven.

      "Or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your [18] children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

      How could He have used language more simple, clear, and strong, to urge us to pray, and to assure us that our petitions would not be in vain? But the promise seems to be wholly unconditional. Are there not conditions to it at all? Yes--there are some conditions, and they are implied in the very promise itself.

      1. The first condition which is also the most difficult, and the one most generally disregarded, is simply that we believe Him. Of course we do not doubt His veracity--we wouldn't dare say such a thing, or even think it. For this He was born and came forth into the world that He should bear witness to the truth. Yes, we believe that His word is truth--surely we do. And yet--how hard it is for us to take His promise at face-value. Oh the doubts and fears that arise in our poor, weak hearts! We do indeed make our request known to Him, but "the peace of God which passeth all understanding" does not come. (Phil. 4:6, 7) Why not? We cast our burden before the Lord in prayer, and then pick it up again and go our way with it, as before. We cannot rest in His promise; we cannot trust Him to do as He said. Is it any wonder that we "ask and receive not"? "Let not that man"--that doubting man--"think that he shall receive anything of the Lord," says James. (Jas. 1:7) With that unhappy father in the gospel story, we often must cry out: "Lord I believe; help mine unbelief."

      2. "But I asked for something in undoubting faith, and did not get it," replies one. So would you set up this experience to discredit the promise of the Lord, and to deny His truthfulness? "Oh, no," he would say--"but there must have been another reason besides unbelief in my case." Likely there was. John puts in a qualifying phrase: "If we ask anything according to his will he heareth us." (I John 5:14.) "Yes, but in Matt. 7:7-11, the Lord says nothing about any such condition and limitation." Doesn't He? So you think He meant that you could ask for something contrary to the will of God, and get it? That would be bad for you. (Ps. 106:15.) But look again at the promise in Matt. 7:7, 8. Did the Lord say, "Ask and you will get the thing you asked for?" No doubt often, yea, in most cases you will. But the Lord did not so commit Himself. Only one thing He made certain and definite: namely that your asking shall not be in vain. Here is what He said: "Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you." Now this "it" is impersonal and indefinite; very much as we say "it rains," or "it is warm." What the Lord said was that if you ask you shall receive; and if you seek you will find; and if you knock a door will be opened to you; not necessarily that what you ask for you will receive, or that you will necessarily find the thing you are seeking, or that the special door at which you knock [19] will be the one that will be opened to you. By all preference, yes: if your asking is right and good; if your request can be granted for a blessing--surely the Father will rejoice to fulfill your actual petition. But He does not bind Himself to give anything and everything, always, for our asking. Yet the assurance is that you shall receive--and if not the very thing that in your blindness you may have asked, then a better thing instead. So ask--ask in faith--you cannot lose.

      3. It will be seen that the whole meaning of the Lord's comparison turns not merely upon the Father's ability and willingness to give us for our asking, but on the fact that He knows how to give good gifts to them that ask Him. Even earthly fathers do this for their children. The point of the illustration of the loaf and the stone, of the fish and the serpent, lies in the similarity of these things. The son may mistake the stone for a loaf, and ask his father for it, thinking to appease his hunger with it: will the father then give him--not what he thinks he wants, but what he really desires? He will not give him a stone that looks like a loaf--yea, he may even give him a loaf, which, at first sight, might look to him like a stone--but it will be nothing less than good satisfying bread. "If ye then, being evil (for there is none good save One) know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to them that ask him? How much more? By so much more as He is better than the best father that ever lived on earth.

      4. Immediately follows in verse 12, what we call "The Golden Rule." Some have wondered why that was given in conjunction with this teaching on prayer, and they could see no connection. But there is indeed a connection. The blessings which God freely bestows upon His children--are they to be used up in self-satisfaction and for selfish enjoyment? Nay--if that were our aim, then, as James told us, such prayers would have to go unanswered. (Jas. 4:3.) The "good gifts of God" must issue in blessing to our fellow-men. He puts no restrictions on the good gifts which He will bestow; but they were given to enable us to live a new, a different, a Christ-like life. Many talk about the golden rule, as the true standard for human conduct. Few follow it. None can follow it in its high and true sense, but those who have first been blest--namely the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, upon whom He has bestowed His Spirit, and who have free access to His treasuries for constant power and blessing. For the Golden Rule is summed up in one word--Love. "We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19.) His love to us is reflected back to Him; and from us out to our fellowmen, "All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets." For "love is the fulfilment of the law" (Romans 13:10). It does all that the law requires--and that "not in the oldness of the [20] letter but in the newness of the Spirit." And the Spirit is the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself up for us.

And can I have such love as that? Well--do you want it? Then--"Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you." [21]

[CTOP 18-21]