i entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. [psalm 119:58]
i don’t often ask for things that i know are coming to me or even more so, things that i already have. on my birthday, i don’t ask if i can please have the wrapped gift sitting on the table. i know it’s already mine. i don’t call amazon and ask if i can please have the thing that my phone tells me is arriving today. or the thing i already received yesterday!
so why do we ask God, as this man is doing, for things that God has given, is currently giving, or has promised to give?
because he wants us to!
if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” [luke 11:13]
if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [james 1:5]
i call upon you, for you will answer me, o God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. [psalm 17:6]
when he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. (God speaking) [psalm 91:15]
Jesus answered her, “if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” [john 4:10]
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [philippians 4:6]
so let us not be afraid to ask for what we already have in Christ! to ask to be conformed to the image of God’s Son in every way! for intimacy with God, to be filled with his grace and truth! he wants us to cry out to him for all of these and so much more. he wants us to cry out because he can’t wait to answer and pour out mercy. [isaiah 30:18-20]
~ arwen eastman