Red Letters 32 -- “The Father Gives Good Things""
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Malachi 3:6-12 English Standard Version (ESV)
6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear,” says the Lord of hosts. 12 “Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, “says the Lord of hosts.
James 1:12-18 English Standard Version (ESV)
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Matthew 7:7-11 English Standard Version (ESV)
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
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Within a few weeks we will have completed the Sermon on the Mount. Which is incredible to me because I do not think I have ever spent this amount of time on these passages and so it has been a joy and a time of personal reflection. I pray that you continue to be challenged and convicted by His words.
Today Jesus says:
Matthew 7:7-11
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
And this is a struggle for myself. Some people have personalities where, if they want something or need something, they would have no problem asking. Famously men do not like to ask for directions. And I don’t like asking for help. When our dishwasher stopped working my wife asked that I let the landlord know. And if she is lucky, I will get to asking in a day or two, after some consistent encouragement.
I’m not sure why this is. It might be some self-consciousness or social anxiety, but whatever the reason, I do not like to ask for things. And because of this, I often also have this wishfulness where I just want people to know what I want. And if my family or friends don’t meet these expectations… I will sometimes get really sad and wonder if people love me or not. But while that may seem childish, I also believe that that is sometimes what we desire. To be seen and known without us having to ask.
I see it in my children all the time. They will come to me giving me a look and expect me to know what they want… and honestly, most times I do! They want a bite of my doughnut or they want me to help them with something. And again and again I have to remind them, if you need something or want something.
use your words and ask. It’s not that I do not want to give them what they are asking for (most of the time) but as parents, I am trying to teach them the values of being polite and using their words to communicate their wants.
But I also know that they do this because they want to be seen and known. To be recognized. And paid attention to. To be catered and coddled. What child does not want this?
And so I find that I often have this attitude before God. I want Him to know what I want and need and give it before I ask. I want to be seen and known by Him. But there are also times where I don’t want to ask of Him because I don’t really want to bother Him with these petty wants I have. Perhaps He’s too busy doing important things? And perhaps I don’t feel worthy to be asking of Him for anything?
But I know this is not the case for God. God is not too busy for our wants. God does not view us as unworthy of coming to Him with our needs. He showed this to us in the life and death and resurrection of Christ His Son. He gave His only Son to die on the Cross to redeem us and give us life in Him, so that we would know that we matter to Him. And so God invites us to ask because He delights in our prayers. The Lord desires to hear our needs. And while the Bible tells us that God knows all that we need even before we utter a word or even notice our own needs… Jesus says: “Ask!” He is saying ask, because it brings us back into this posture of humility and servanthood before God. It marks our dependency before God.
I remember how it was really tiresome taking Abel my oldest son to the playground because when he was 2-3 he would always call me every couple of minutes and ask me to take out the sand or pebble that had gotten on his shoes. And I kept wondering when he would grow up enough to do it himself. But one day we went to the playground and a few minutes had gone by and there were no cries for help. I instead found him sitting on the ground, very nonchalantly taking off his shoes and emptying them without so much as a glance to me. It was devastating, because I realized that my son no longer needed me. Now as a parent moments like these are bitter sweet because you become proud of the things they are learning to do, but you also recognize that they won’t always need you as much as they once did, which is painful
But in my relationship with my son, there is this reality that he will grow up and eventually not need his mom or dad so much. The cries for help… The asks to peel an orange… or to tie their shoelaces… won’t come. And he will depend upon me less and less. Which is a good thing. But while this is true for children growing up, we as children of God must be reminded that we do not in fact grow up enough to become less dependent on God. It is actually the opposite. As we grow and mature, and as the Lord stretches us, builds us and sanctifies us, we only grow in our need and dependency on God. Jesus knows this.
Which is why He tells us to “Ask, seek and knock.“ Because to ask, seek and knock is a sign of spiritual maturity. It is to be one who recognizes the depth of their need for the Lord
Look back and think back to all we have been reading about what Jesus is saying about being a faithful follower of Christ. The standards that Jesus has painted for all those listening, began from what they believed about the laws, into these astronomically lofty and unreachable requirements of holiness. When you really spend time with His words they are dumbfounding, because truly no person could ever live up to these expectations. The crowds themselves sitting at Jesus’ feet, Scripture say, were astonished by what He was saying. Jesus was elevating God’s law to a place that was far holier and much more out of reach than people had been holding it. And so when we are sitting there humbled and feeling defeated and unworthy…
Jesus says:
Ask. Seek And Knock.
Why? For everyone who asks will receive. For everyone who seeks will find. For everyone who knocks the door will be opened.
Jesus has put this mirror in front of us in His words and teachings so that we can, by the convictions of the Holy Spirit see just how absolutely depraved and unworthy and sinful we are. Not so that we may feel defeated, but so that we can realize the truth of how we as people can do nothing on our own. We can not live good and holy lives. We can not live with pure hearts. And especially, specifically, most importantly… We can not save ourselves. And so… we need help. And so Jesus says “It is I. I am the one you can depend upon. I am the one you can trust. In fact I have been the one to grant you all that is good and perfect. Every blessing you have received comes from me. And I am the same yesterday today and forever. I will never change. And you can trust in me. All you have to do… Is ask.“ He does not tell us to ask because He doesn’t know what we need, but because we need to know that we need Him… That we are the ones that must depend upon Him… That in fact, we can do nothing BUT depend upon Him.
In the book of Malachi we read this incredible promise that God gives to the Israelites. That though they have been robbing Him by withholding their sacrifices and tithes to Him, He says: “Bring the whole tithes into the storehouse… And see what happens.” Because I remember what it was like when, especially as a student, I barely had bus fare to get home, or enough money to buy a meal, being a starving arts student and all. And there were days when I choose, instead of giving my offerings going to buy a Big Mac. If you put aside money here, this revealed that at its core, I had a trust issue with the Lord.
Many of the Israelites were not giving their tithes to the Lord because they had their trust in something else. Stocks. Investments. Businesses. Jobs. Banks. Lottery tickets. Etc. But the Lord was turning around and saying “No. Put your trust in me. In everything. And see if I will not only give you what you need. But give you so much blessings that the floodgates of heaven will be thrown open and pour out so much blessing That you will not have room enough for it.”
Do you trust in the Lord, that when you ask, and seek and knock that He will provide?
In these unknowable days, when we do not know what life for you, your children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren will look like one two three months or years from now, will you put your trust in the things of this world as you often had? Or will you put your utter and complete trust in the Lord? Because when you trust the Lord, then you can know, with absolutely certainty that the Father in Heaven. Your Father in Heaven will give good things to those who ask.
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
And so we, in this thanksgiving season, can give thanks to the Lord. For His providence. For His blessings. For His provisions. And for His peace. And let us ask the Lord for a steadfast Spirit, despite the rising exhaustion, anxieties, and fear that may be bubbling up in this world because of the pandemic. Let us remain steadfast in the Lord for we know that He is good and that He is sovereign.
James 1:12-18
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him… 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
While our hearts may be fickle, as Jesus has been revealing to us… While our hearts may be deceiving and while many of the true intentions of our hearts are often hidden from others (even ourselves.)…Though we may sway in our faithfulness and trust in the Lord… We can be reassured today that in the Father of Lights, Our Heavenly Father who calls us children, there is no variation and no shadow due to change. We can know that He is steadfast and everlasting. And so may we repent of our hardened hearts, coming before the Lord and confessing our need for Him. And rejoice that we have this great great and good God, that we can fully and completely rest on. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.